Disqus - Latest Comments for Tom Markiewicz

Re: Watch me (it’s not that interesting)

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:09:24 -0000

Can you post how you were able to get it working on your Mac? Apparently, there is no support available on their site...

Re: Four types of tweets

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 09:58:06 -0000

Great post. How very true! I'm finding twitterers that stick to only one type (esp. the clickers) can become annoying after a time. I had to remove a few when twitter became just a link blog for them.

Re: Easily follow your Facebook friends on Twitter.

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:22:57 -0000

Great tip! I wish Facebook enabled more parts of the site with feeds though.

Re: My DEMO 08 Presentation for Standout Jobs

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:40:29 -0000

Nice job Ben!

Re: Frustrated with your Job Search?

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:44:29 -0000

Great post Stuart. I would add that it's better to start the networking process now, while you have a job before you actually need a new one. It's very hard to start networking when you're unemployed since good networking is a give and take. With networking, you're building a relationship for the future.Unfortunately, the unemployed job seeker needs help now not later. When you don't need a new position is the best time to hone those networking skills.

It amazes me how often I only hear from some of my contacts when they're recently out of work. It's much harder at that point if I haven't heard from you in years...

Re: Inc Top 30 under 30 Entrepreneurs - Do we have 30?

Tom Markiewicz — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 07:01:26 -0000

Thanks for the mention, Stuart!

Re: Please Complete Survey for Hollins Student Thesis Project

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 23:16:07 -0000

You may want to suggest she use one of the free web-based surveys like SurveyMonkey. No one has the time to fill out a word doc...

Re: Moving On

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:08:27 -0000

"there are so many strong climbers ... resulting in me really starting to wonder if I was truly a “climber” since I am unable to climb 5.13"

I feel the same way here in Boulder most of the time!

Re: Navigating RubyConf

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:03:00 -0000

I won't be coming in till Friday morning, but I've signed up for the Facebook group. If you plan something on one of the other days, I'd love to attend..

Re: 15 billion freaking dollars?

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:32:52 -0000

Great analogy! BTW, I'm still waiting for that Gmail IMAP... I look forward to hearing about any issues you run into.

Re: Desktop Blog Tools a Hit

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:27:31 -0000

John, I can recommend MarsEdit for the Mac. It's great for managing multiple blogs.

Re: RSS news readers

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:27:51 -0000

The theme I'm using is Minima Plus and can be found at Thought Mechanics.

Re: Skype coming on strong

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:47:42 -0000

No offense taken. Any specific suggestions though?

Re: Picassa 2 released free by Google

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 09:06:38 -0000

Bob, try the Picassa website. It looks like the link in my original post was bad. Not sure if the software is available for Mac.

Re: Self heating coffee in a can

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 09:14:46 -0000

David, thanks for the feature request for FeedMiner. We're currently getting ready to release a bunch of updates to the service next week. The auto discovery is not part of that release, but I agree it's an important feature to have.

With regard to the spam, what can I say. There are features built in to WordPress that should be taking care of this and I'm not exactly sure why I'm having this issue. The vast majority of the spam leaves an anonymous name with no links. I have WordPress set to not allow anyone to leave a comment without leaving a name and email (as can be seen above) so I'm at a loss on what the issue is. I'm sure I have some setting wrong, but just haven't had time to research the issue. That being said, I spent some time cleaning up the spam garbage and adding some details to some of the other spam protection WordPress provides. Hopefully it will work!

Re: Measure Map and Google Analytics

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:20:17 -0000

I agree with your last comment. I just don't think they're processing all of the data yet. It started to look like it was flowing in yesterday, but then I look in GA today and there's no stats for the poast two days. So, despite the fact I keep checking, I'll have to give them a couple of weeks and then compare.

What's nice compared to AWstats is that you'll only be seeing the real web traffic and not as much of the spam botting. And this will provide more usable data. It still looks promising from what I've seen so far though.

Re: Yahoo 360 Review

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 11:38:04 -0000

Carole,

Good point. I was so un-impressed with Yahoo 360, I never really did much with it. I took a peek, but never went back.

Re: Performancing Blog Extension for FireFox

Tom Markiewicz — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 12:09:33 -0000

I actually already use SpellBound in FireFox. It's probably one of the most useful extensions I've found yet. I initially couldn't get it working with v1.5, but now it's operating as usual. I'm still not sold on the Performancing extension yet, but with some more minor features (again I need save as draft) I can see it being a primary method of blog authoring. I currently use the native WordPress editor and with SpellBound, I have everything I need.

Re: Performancing Blog Extension for FireFox

Tom Markiewicz — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 17:30:52 -0000

Lloyd,

Your point is well taken. I overstated my point about the Performancing plugin by inplying that Flock was built around that single feature.

I do still believe though that Flock has an uphill climb as many of the concepts emphasized by Flock are (or can be) added to Firefox.

Re: GoDaddy.com Super Bowl commercial pulled

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 16:20:38 -0000

As a follow-up almost a year later, it's amazing to see the traffic spike this post has received after the Super Bowl. Looks like GoDaddy is still great at creating tons of publicity via their Super Bowl commercials.

Re: Performancing Blog Extension for FireFox

Tom Markiewicz — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 16:04:59 -0000

Just an update- the new version of Performancing now has a post to draft feature.

Re: SXSW: Perfect pitch, how to attract more money for your digital convergence business

Tom Markiewicz — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 13:50:47 -0000

The most interesting point made was by Harlan, whose company recently received funding. His comment that there are two groupings - the experienced entrepreneurs who have relationships with VCs and everyone else - was sobering.

One thing I wish were discussed (which I didn't think of at the time) was the issue of location and how that plays into funding companies. I constantly hear that companies need to be relatively local to the investing firms, but at the same time I see investments by these same firms nationwide. It would have been interesting to hear more on this aspect and whether companies should spend any time pursuing investments outside their regional areas. I wish I would have thought of this earlier and asked the panel the question.

Re: SXSW: Tagging 2.0

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 11:14:51 -0000

Thanks Keith. It has taken some time to get my notes all transposed to the web, but they should all be posted by this afternoon. I found SXSW to be extremely informative, so I hope this series of posts helps those who couldn't make it to the conference.

Re: SXSW: Building buzz for your web project

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 11:20:43 -0000

Thanks Josiah. With buzz marketing, it appears there's no single strategy that works well. It looks like a series of trial and error approaches is what most companies end up with. If you have any success stories, please let me know.

Re: SXSW: panels

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 11:24:11 -0000

Thanks David. It's been great being able to read notes from panels I wasn't able to attend.

Re: SXSW: Starting Small, Web Business for the Rest of Us

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:36:52 -0000

No problem, it was a great panel!

Re: Pass on IE beta 2

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 14:49:46 -0000

Thanks Nick! Keep up the great work with FeedDemon. It's by far the best feed reader in the market.

Re: New employee and blogger

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 26 May 2006 09:56:45 -0000

I don't know of any other interns who blog, but if I hear of any I'll pass them your way. Your idea of an online intern network sounds great. Good luck!

Re: BlackBerry and SideKick Intellisync Issues

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:24:42 -0000

Wow, I'm glad this comment thread is helping people solve this same problem!

Re: BlackBerry 7100 update

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:28:08 -0000

Glassrover, I'm not 100% sure, but i think its possible to use the 7100v on the Rogers network. You may want to dig into some of the Blackberry forums.

Ashlena, yes, my understanding is that is not possible to get a real track ringtone onto a Blackberry 7100. I'm also having the same issue with my Sidekick.

Re: Using RSS for Marketing at the eduWeb Conference

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 22:03:46 -0000

Steve, have you been to the eduWeb conference before? If I remember correctly, it's been held in Maryland the past few years (maybe always?). I tried to attend last year, but was unable to make it.

Re: Using RSS for Marketing at the eduWeb Conference

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:39:22 -0000

The conference went well. I have a brief summary post I'll have up soon.

Re: Manhunt at Virginia Tech

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:45:12 -0000

Good point, but I think you\'re making a connection here that absolutely doesn\'t exist. Town of Blacksburg does not equal Virginia Tech. These are two separate entities and don\'t necessarily operate in conjunction. I received two degrees from Tech and I could write forever about how they run the place sometimes! ;)

I received an email around 8am with an emergency warning about the situation and what was being done on campus. I can\'t possibly know what the administration knew or didn\'t know, but from what I\'ve read it still appears to me that the proper precautions were taken when information became more available as to what was actually happening.

If anyone has more information on this or thinks I\'m off base, please leave a comment.

Re: Manhunt at Virginia Tech

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:47:38 -0000

BTW, here\'s the email I received at 8:13am with the subject line \"Emergency Advisory\":

The escaped prisoner from the Montgomery County Jail has been spotted on the Virginia Tech campus in the vicinity of the Huckleberry Trail and Tech
Center Drive. He is armed and dangerous. For safety, the police have barricaded the south side of campus. Employees working anywhere south of
Washington Street including the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center are advised not to come to work and if already at work, to remain in the
building.

Re: Manhunt at Virginia Tech

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 11:13:54 -0000

I updated my original post above with information I was not aware of at the time of my first posting.

Re: Web 2.0 Logo Creator

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:48:57 -0000

Yeah and if they offered some color options I could use it on a few sites for real!

Re: Start to publish RSS feeds smarter

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 13:53:15 -0000

Thanks Stephan for posting this as it's great news. I'll definitely be back.

I'm assuming you were planning this in advance, but I'd like to think that I wield so much power that this post caused the change ;)

Another aspect to this debate I didn't mention in my original post is ad-supported full text feeds. What does everyone think? Personally, if one of the concerns of the publisher is the revenue generation from the web site, I'm more than happy with the insertion of ads every couple of posts if it keeps the feed content as full text.

Re: Project Time Tracking Tools

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 14:10:07 -0000

I just found a few more:

Time IQ (http://www.timeiq.com/)
Sundial (http://www.clearwired.com/sundial/)

If there are any I've missed, please feel free to add them here.

Re: Project Time Tracking Tools

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 10:22:37 -0000

Thanks for the clarification Derek. I haven't tried 1time, but I'll check it out.

Re: Project Time Tracking Tools

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 21:31:03 -0000

Mike, great news about FreshBooks. I look forward to the new features. BTW, the last release with the ability to send paper invoices as well as email was simply incredible. We've yet to use it yet, but I see that type of transitional service as extremely important.

Rex, thanks for the link to your podcast. I'll take a listen.

Re: The new Netscape is a joke

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 23:19:50 -0000

Jason, I respect your position, but that isn't my main issue. I have no problem with the community or an anchor voting a story down to zero. I have a problem with the complete removal of a submission from Netscape. My submitted story was there and then completely removed. When I complained, it was restored after several weeks with the explanation I wrote in the post above.

I've submitted stories to similar sites and many of them don't get many votes for any number of reasons or are voted to zero votes. That's the whole point of these types of sites. If the anchor thought this post was a duplicate, even though I disagree, they have an obligation to the site to vote it down. It's the removal and then restoration that I have issue with.

Re: The new Netscape is a joke

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 23:22:44 -0000

Don, point well taken. Digg has its own problems, but I simply don't like how the anchors handled this. Netscape can try and have it both ways (community and editors), but I don't have to think it works well nor do I have to like it. As they say, time will tell. Unfortunately, the average user will never know the difference either way which will be a shame.

Re: Project Time Tracking Tools

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:23:47 -0000

Thanks Arvin. ClickTime looks primarily focused on employee timesheets. It appears priced per employee. Does that get expensive for your organization?

Re: The new Netscape is a joke

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:33:59 -0000

KT, I agree with you that simply being number 2 on Netscape and receiving traffic is no indication that people agree with the article. But I have not actually written that it does nor have I attempted to imply this. In my post I simply stated that traffic shows interest and I'm not sure how that point can be argued. If someone see the title and a summary of the post now on Netscape and they click on it, they have interest in seeing what it is about. Clicking through does not imply approval. Additionally, the same could be said for the votes for the post currently on Netscape. If you read through the comments over there (and I highly recommend it), they are much more harsh than the comments made here. SO, many of those voting the post up may not necessarily agree. You can actually confirm this by reading the comments and looking at who voted for the article at the bottom. Many of my harshest critics still voted for it.

Re: The new Netscape is a joke

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:41:59 -0000

Brad, I don't have a problem with the story falling out. That was never my main point of the post. What bothers me is that my submission was completely removed and then only reinstated after I asked what happened. Something is wrong there. The policy is either to completely remove with notification upon a dupe or to baseline it back to zero votes. In my case, it was both. Just doesn't seem right to me.

I appreciate Jason's comments above suggesting this may have just been a mistake. If that's the case, I only take issue with how it was handled as opposed to the actions themselves. If there was an error, I would have expected the anchor to apologize and say its back on the site with zero votes, etc. Instead, I get the exchange that I wrote about. I hope this explains things a bit better. I never had any intention of the post being a whining complaint. It was simply meant to point out what I thought were some serious issues with the service.

The fact that this post did make it to number 2 on Netscape today as well as all the comments I'm reading, tells me that I'm not the only one who feels this way. There are obviously a lot of people who feel strongly about this.

Re: Online polls with PollDaddy

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:23:12 -0000

Thanks for the recommendation, Chris. PollDaddy's polls are actually quite obnoxious looking to me. Maybe they appeal to the MySpace crowd, but I just don't like the look and feel.

From a quick glance at PollPub, they look a bit more professional. I'll check them out next time I need a poll.

Re: Tips for Publishing RSS feeds - Part 1

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:52:28 -0000

Adam, good point. I would have to agree with your comment cautioning trying to do the feed advertising via footers on your own. If you are using an outsourced solution or have full control over the software that creates the feeds this may be a different story.

A quick plug for my company\'s FeedCraft solution is in order here though. We offer all customers the ability to add a footer to each feed. They specify the footer on the add/edit feed section and it is global for a single feed, not each item. We have found this works well for branding and providing additional info more than pure advertising. Here is an example in the feed for VT KnowledgeWorks. Through our partnership with Click & Pledge, we also have customers adding their donation image and links to the bottom of every item giving them more opportunities to increase donations to their non-profit. An example is the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives feed.

So while I agree with some caution using footers, I would not rule them out completely.

Re: Tips for Publishing RSS feeds - Part 1

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 09:48:11 -0000

Thanks Bill. Keep up the good work.

Re: OpenOffice to the rescue

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:49:18 -0000

Good question. I actually figured it out what may have been causing the problem. I was adding images to the doc that were in png format instead of my usual gif or jpg. This is the only difference between other documents and this one.

Re: Review: Windows Live Writer Desktop Blogging Tool

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:28:48 -0000

Thanks Torley. I agree that a tabbed interface would clearly make this a killer blogging app, especially for WordPress. I'm disappointed they're not pushing out new releases very fast, but let's hope we see a fix to this multiple screen issue soon.

Re: Web 2.0 Logo Creator

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:31:01 -0000

Unfortunately, it looks like the site is down.

Re: Remote data backup service review

Tom Markiewicz — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 17:34:55 -0000

Thanks Don, I wasn't aware of that. I have noticed that they've increased their web advertising. Should be an interesting service to keep an eye on.

Re: Project Time Tracking Tools

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 10:38:36 -0000

Danny, I hadn't seen Cashboard but it looks interesting. I look forward to checking it out. I think it will compete more with Freshbooks though than straight time management apps.

Re: Remote data backup service review

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 10:28:08 -0000

Fanatics - I read that Mozy is supposed to be releasing a Mac version, but I'm not sure on the release date. Have you looked at using Amazon S3 with Jungle Disk?

Re: The Danger of the Web Office and Google Presentations

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 15:24:48 -0000

Dana, I understand what your trying to say, but I still believe that some applications are still going to be useful and preferred as desktop applications.

I also run a company whose product is entirely web-based so I keenly appreciated the benefits of outsourcing and web-based software. My livelihood depends on it!

I'm simply saying that while this trend is encouraging, there are dangers. I don't think I'm overstating this at all. The Internet is a utility that is still not treated as such in most organizations.

My point is only that there are some risks in relying on *some* types of web-based applications.

Re: The Big Switch from Windows to Mac OS X

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:59:23 -0000

Thanks Mike. Looks like a great site.

Re: The Big Switch from Windows to Mac OS X

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:30:19 -0000

@Alison - Thanks for the encouragement. I'll keep blogging about the issues I encounter.

@Matthew - Ubuntu failed my needs the same way Windows did - the applications. I was looking for applications designed better and more efficiently. An overall better user experience coupled with the ability to be more productive. I found more of those apps on the Mac. Regarding proprietary vendor lock-in, this was not a reason I moved away from Windows so that's not a major factor for me. My recommendation for Linux would be to focus on "killer apps" unique to Linux desktop. Most of what I found for Linux always compared itself to a related Windows or Mac software. It may be better for Linux developers to get away from that mindset (trying to make equivalents) and focus on what makes Linux better.

@Mario - Great points. I would just say that blogging really is word of mouth just on a bigger scale. As I mentioned above, I have no issue with people preferring Windows. Just try all the major OS's first, then make a decision.

@Bob - Wow, a longtime Mac user. The last Apple computer I used before my MacBook Pro was an Apple IIc.

@Dave - Very nice article. It looks like I echoed many of the same ideas.

Re: The Big Switch from Windows to Mac OS X

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:34:47 -0000

@Paul - Try NeoOffice. It's a port of OpenOffice for Mac. NeoOffice has been running smoothly with no issues pulling in and editing existing Microsoft Office files.

@Jimmy - I bought a Mac so I could think more. IMO, there is considerably more flexibility in a Mac than Windows. Maybe not as much as Linux, but I guess that depends on your definition...

Re: The Big Switch from Windows to Mac OS X

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 10:26:18 -0000

@Jclark - Thanks, I\'ll have to look into Mariner\'s products. I\'ll also take a look at the new Office for Mac which is supposed to be out in the second half of this year.

@Matthew - I think the misunderstanding on vendor lock-in was my comment regarding Vista. I was simply adding to my analysis on my situation in that if I wanted to upgrade my computing experience (Vista, Mac, or Ubuntu), a move to Vista would involve a new hardware purchase just like the Mac would. Thus, I could justify new hardware purchase when comparing those two options. I initially was hopeful that I could skip buying new hardware and go straight to Ubuntu on my Dell laptop. While I found no issues running Ubuntu on my laptop, I did not find the applications and overall experience to be what I was looking for. I was however very impressed with Ubuntu. Having tried other Linux distros in the past, Ubuntu was a pleasant surprise and will only get better. So, while vendor lock-in is an issue, I wasn\'t one I was considering .

@Raul - I still feel FeedDemon is head and shoulders the best feed reader out there regardless of platform (I have honestly tried every one I could find on each of the major platforms including web-based). I hope the next version of NetNewsWire can compare with FeedDemon. Until then, I\'m using Parallels w/Coherence mode to use FeedDemon on my Mac. And it works wonderfully.

With respect to my Ruby dev environment, I looked at both rolling my own and Locomotive. Since I went the full install route when I was on Windows, I did the same with the Mac. I followed a tutorial (http://hivelogic.com/narrative/articles/ruby-ra...) as recommended by the AWDWR book.

So far it\'s working fine, I\'m just still trying to get used to some of the permission issues I never had to deal with on Windows.

@Bill - Thanks. BTW, nice recent post on your switch to Ubuntu (http://billboebel.typepad.com/blog/2007/02/ive_...) as well.

Re: The Big Switch from Windows to Mac OS X

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:10:31 -0000

@Motorcycle Guy - good point, but that's their whole business model. Apple is in the hardware business not software. Just look at their current product lineup.

Re: Remote data backup service review

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 08:07:03 -0000

@Joel P. - Thanks for your comments. While I've had decent success with Mozy's customer support, I did have issues with some very large files (Outlook .PSTs).

The Mac version of Mozy was released into beta in March and I'm using it right now. I actually find it works smoother than the PC version. Maybe they're trying to do less? So, it appears they "sorta" hit the date given to you. I'm not sure when it will go public.

Re: Manhunt at Virginia Tech

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:11:06 -0000

@Carlos - this blog post was from the incident last year. I have a new post regarding today at http://www.tmarkiewicz.com/virginia-tech-tragedy/

Re: Virginia Tech Tragedy

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:00:19 -0000

Thanks Jeremy.

Re: Site redesign

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 02 May 2007 09:10:50 -0000

Thanks Pharao. I wanted a clean looking site that I could continue to tweak easily as needed.

Re: Site redesign

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 02 May 2007 09:13:54 -0000

I forgot to add one more nice plugin I'm using by Alex King - Share This

Re: Apple’s Safari to Windows is a brilliant move

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 21:42:20 -0000

@Kev - Agreed. I didn't mean to imply in my post that it would be easy or equivalent. I've also already read that Flash will not be supported on launch. I still think giving Windows users the ability to run Safari now allows those developers the ability to test web apps potentially written for the iPhone.

Will screen size, network speed, etc. still be an issue? Definitely. But this at least opens the door to a much larger pool of development talent.

Re: Web analytics services and Performancing’s mistake

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:37:41 -0000

Thanks Allen. I looked into many of Performancing's offerings over the past couple years and they were just never right for me.

I just added Clicky to this blog and so far I really like the stats. I especially like the FeedBurner integration, though I expect we'll see this in Google Analytics soon with their recent purchase of FB.

Re: Web usability key for online marketing success even in eLearning

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:48:46 -0000

@VT Student - First, I don't see a correlation between speaking English and BlackBoard's usability. The fact that they are not complaining does not imply that the software is usable or even that they like it. It only proves that they either don't care or don't feel like complaining publicly.

You're entitled to your opinion, but I'll ask one question. Presumably, from the name left on the comment form, you're a student. If so, have you actually used the instructor interface for BlackBoard? Have you actually tried to set up a course, add grades, add documents, and otherwise manage a course throughout a semester. This is what I'm discussing and maybe I should have been more clear in mentioning my specific perspective though I felt it was implied in the post.

You may have a different point of view as a student using the system, but from the instructor perspective BlackBoard is very hard to use compared to other applications and what is available today.

I've mentioned these issues with BlackBoard in every class and I've yet to have any student say positive things regarding the app.

Finally, the post was not necessarily meant to attack BlackBoard, but to use it as an example of how important web usability is in designing web applications. Additionally, I wanted to emphasize how some companies have little incentive to improve their products which can ultimately lead to problems.

Anyone else think I'm being overly harsh? Let me know!

Re: BlackBerry and SideKick Intellisync Issues

Tom Markiewicz — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:06:39 -0000

@JD you're very welcome, glad I could help

Re: NetBank closes after failed deal

Tom Markiewicz — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:42:38 -0000

@Marty - The best thing about Everbank so far is their online banking services. It's the best I've used. Very robust, nice UI, and email notices make it so much better than Netbank.

Re: Using a Dell Printer on a Mac

Tom Markiewicz — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 09:44:19 -0000

@eric You're welcome. Unfortunately, using the same set of drivers at that site, I've been unable to get my HP OfficeJet k80 to work.

Re: New rock climbing blog site

Tom Markiewicz — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:35:16 -0000

Thanks Phil, good luck with the new blog!

Re: Hulu first impressions

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:37:25 -0000

Nathan, good point.

What I'm also finding interesting is how many people are foregoing recording tv shows because they know they can find them online anytime from all the major networks.

My sister recently told me she doesn't even bother recording her favorite tv shows because she just watches them online whenever she wants.

Re: Moving to Colorado

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:33:54 -0000

Thanks Steven. I realize I didn't write about our timeframe in the post. I should be around until June so we'll have to get lunch before I leave the area.

Re: Moving to Colorado

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:53:09 -0000

Thanks James, I appreciate that. Good luck with the business and keep me posted on developments.

Re: Moving to Colorado

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:36:04 -0000

@Doc - Thanks. We just returned from a house hunting trip and absolutely love it out there. We can't wait to move out permanently this summer.

@Corbett - Thanks as well. You ever stop by to see Schumacher at Ball when you're out there? We just spent the weekend with him.

Re: Moving to Colorado

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:24:40 -0000

Rob, interesting choice. I lived in Northern Virginia and metro DC for about 10 years, most recently Alexandria, Va and progressively disliked living there.

I have to strongly disagree with your statement that "life is life" - yes, certain aspects of life remain the same regardless of location, but you imply that location doesn't matter that much to day to day living.

I can honestly tell you that even though I'm moving away from Blacksburg to Boulder, no matter how big the problems I faced the past three years I woke up every morning in Blacksburg and said to myself "at least I'm here and not living in NoVa anymore."

Location choice is personal and in my opinion can absolutely affect all other aspects of your life. I'm glad you're happy with NoVa, but I'm surprised there isn't more of a mass exodus out of the area with all the issues I saw while there.

Re: Colorado trip and the startup community in Boulder

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:09:27 -0000

Will, my preference is absolutely to live in Boulder itself. The problem is the price of buying a home within city limits. Once our house sells here in Virginia, we'll initially rent a place in Boulder and then go from there. The homes for sale in Boulder in our price range are not really what we're looking for thus the idea of Superior or Louisville.

Re: The advantages of being a student entrepreneur

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:27:36 -0000

Jeremy, that's an excellent point. Blogs and social networks have changed the game and enabled students to get a leg up on building their networks.

Re: Some social networking privacy tips

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:21:26 -0000

I agree. I got a question every semester I taught my strategic marketing class that was basically "will employers look at Facebook and other social networking sites?" And of course my answer was YES!

They had a hard time accepting this and were quite surprised. If it's publicly available, people will look at it or search for any way to find some insight or advantage. The best policy is to simply be aware of everything you post with the thought that it may be very hard if not impossible to delete.

Re: Moving to Colorado

Tom Markiewicz — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:18:32 -0000

Chris, so far so good as we made it to Colorado this past weekend. I'll try to write up a follow up post soon with what we've learned and thought so far.

Re: Using a Dell Printer on a Mac

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:22:07 -0000

@Sarah, @Kage you're very welcome!

Re: Bad Email Marketing from Priceline

Tom Markiewicz — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:18:39 -0000

Good points. I guess my overall argument is to get people to fill out surveys it usually takes more that the promise of getting lucky!

Re: Corporate Twitter usage for marketing

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:00:04 -0000

I basically agree and think it's a good sign they're using Twitter for
proactive customer support. But what about all the other areas of

customer support? Are they trying as hard there?

I guess I'm just a bit cynical when so many are gushing over Comcast's

use of Twitter, when most other aspects of their business are so bad.

Re: Identifying your passions for success

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:00:05 -0000

True Cory, but the difference I'm talking about is that passion is necessary for entrepreneurship while for any other job where you're working for someone else it's a "nice to have."

You don't need passion to do most jobs, but obviously your enjoyment and performance would be much better. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, face a different set of circumstances on average and having passion for their idea/company/etc can carry them through the hard times.

Re: Move to Colorado Complete

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:00:06 -0000

Thanks Chris. I completely missed the error in that link.

Re: Welcome to Boulder

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:00:06 -0000

Thanks Stepan!

Chris, my wife's comment to me was basically the same. She said good thing it wasn't a car or you would have hit the brakes! For the cyclist, I almost pulled over to let him have his fun, but at that point there wasn't really anywhere to do that.

Re: iPhone Impressions After Three Months

Tom Markiewicz — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:13:14 -0000

Odzyskiwanie, I think you're missing my point. 21 hours of battery life while using the iPhone as a computer (not just phone functions) is still impressive to me when my Macbook Pro can get at best 2 hours on a charge.

Re: Is Akismet down?

Tom Markiewicz — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 09:39:56 -0000

It's good to hear that I'm not the only one having this spam issue this morning. The only thing I've been able to find out so far is what Neville mentioned above - Akismet had an upgrade last night. It's hard to complain though as Akismet has been almost perfect for me to date. Hopefully this is just a temporary glitch, but it would be nice to hear from them what may have happened.

Re: It’s a major award!

Tom Markiewicz — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:16:34 -0000

Congrats on being a semi-finalist!

Re: Woo-hoo Wind!

Tom Markiewicz — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:23:33 -0000

Cool data! Though it wasn't much fun worrying if parts of my house were going to fly off!

Re: Climbing at the Monastary

Tom Markiewicz — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:41:26 -0000

A friend just mentioned heading to this area soon. Thanks for these route descriptions - I'm psyched to head on up there and check it out!

Re: How to: merge existing GMail accounts

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:55:47 -0000

I actually went the other direction and started using MailPlane for all my Gmail and Google Apps accounts. I actually found that by keeping them separate, but easily accessible allowing me to process email faster. Plus I always kept having performance issues with Mail.app.

Re: How to: merge existing GMail accounts

Tom Markiewicz — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:47:43 -0000

Got ya. Sorry, must not have had enough coffee yet when I read the post this morning ;)