Chris Webb's Publishing Blog » Internet and Technology http://ckwebb.com Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:06:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 I For One Welcome Our New Freaky Robot Overlords http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-freaky-robot-overlords/ http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-freaky-robot-overlords/#comments Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:21:58 +0000 Chris http://ckwebb.com/technology/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-freaky-robot-overlords/ There’s just something about Boston Dynamics’s Big Dog that just weirds me out. Maybe it is the strange alien bug sound it makes, or the freakishly organic motion of this legs. Either way its both nightmarish and amazing.

(About 30 seconds into the video – watch how it moves as it manages to stay upright after a kick from its operator.)

]]> http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-freaky-robot-overlords/feed/ 0 Medicine 2.0 – Back to Housecalls http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/medicine-20-back-to-housecalls/ http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/medicine-20-back-to-housecalls/#comments Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:36:13 +0000 Chris http://ckwebb.com/technology/medicine-20-back-to-housecalls/ stethoscopeI usually write a lot about technology’s role in shaping the publishing world, but of course technology is shaping all industries.  A Twitter friend pointed me to an HISTalk article about Jay Parkinson, M.D. and how he is using technology to change the way he practices medicine – and I don’t mean fancy diagnostic machines or expensive scanners.  This doctor makes housecalls.

On Getting Patient Information 

It’s great because they submit all their information ahead of time, so I pretty much know what’s going on prior to the meeting. I know what to talk about, what points to hit, what things I can skip over that other physicians would concentrate on and waste time on. They spend 10-15 minutes giving me all their health information via an online form.

On his technology bag of tricks

It’s very basic, freely available technology. I have a Macbook and an iPhone. IM programs, like ATM and iChat for the Mac. I just use regular e-mail, Gmail in fact, because it’s very powerful.

I use a website called Formspring for my online forms. It’s very simply drag and drop forms creation. Any form can be made in three minutes or so. It uses skip branch logic, so questions can appear or disappear based on responses to previous questions.

 On making a living on $200 housecalls

Sure. Look, I have no overhead whatsoever. If I charge $200 a visit, $195 of that is straight profit. I think that’s a pretty good living. If I see eight patients a day, that’s $1600. Without having staff, an office, billers … it becomes a very easily doable practice. I definitely designed the business model looking at that. The concept of doing the housecall was a way to open a practice without putting $300,000 upfront. I started this whole thing for less than $1,500.

(Photo credit happysnappr)

]]> http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/medicine-20-back-to-housecalls/feed/ 2 The Changing Publishing Landscape – Introducing Wrox Blox http://ckwebb.com/publishing/the-changing-publishing-landscape-introducing-wrox-blox/ http://ckwebb.com/publishing/the-changing-publishing-landscape-introducing-wrox-blox/#comments Mon, 08 Oct 2007 19:28:56 +0000 Chris http://ckwebb.com/publishing/the-changing-publishing-landscape-introducing-wrox-blox/ I often write about the changes in publishing caused by disruptive technologies and the need for publishers to make their own changes in order to stay relevant. Today we have launched Wrox Blox, a new product for programmers that hopefully will strike a chord with a market that often looks to the web for fast, bite-sized content.

So, what are Wrox Blox?

  • DRM-free
  • PDF format
  • Bite-sized (generally 20-40 pages)
  • Faster to market than traditional books
  • Introductory priced at only $3.99 US

The initial roll out consists of 4 titles, with many more in the works to be available shortly. Beginning today you can purchase and instantly download:

  • iPhone and iPod touch Programming : Handling Touch Interactions and Events for Mobile Safari
  • Silverlight 1.0 Animation
  • Leveraging LINQ in ASP.NET 3.5 Projects
  • Building a Photo Gallery with Adobe AIR

Hopefully we have responded to customer needs with a great new product. What do you think? Is this type of publishing the right direction? How can we improve Wrox Blox?

]]> http://ckwebb.com/publishing/the-changing-publishing-landscape-introducing-wrox-blox/feed/ 4 Peter Collingridge Get Out of My Head! http://ckwebb.com/publishing/peter-collingridge-get-out-of-my-head/ http://ckwebb.com/publishing/peter-collingridge-get-out-of-my-head/#comments Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:40:48 +0000 Chris http://www.ckwebb.com/publishing/peter-collingridge-get-out-of-my-head/ This post from the Times emit blog of Peter Collingridge artfully sums up my own opinion of Publishers’ old-school usage of technology and the frustration I often feel when I want to move faster. My favorite quote from the post:

Without a grasp of what makes a good site compelling and successful, it is implausible that a publisher could “leverage” the new technologies to worthwhile benefit without wasting the ample opportunities before them. If you haven’t ever mashed-up a video on YouTube, what makes you think your readers will?

Peter, can you read my thoughts?

(Via Joe Wikert)

]]> http://ckwebb.com/publishing/peter-collingridge-get-out-of-my-head/feed/ 0 Hot off the presses: Hacking Ubuntu http://ckwebb.com/publishing/books-and-writing/hot-off-the-presses-hacking-ubuntu/ http://ckwebb.com/publishing/books-and-writing/hot-off-the-presses-hacking-ubuntu/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:40:30 +0000 Chris http://www.ckwebb.com/books/hot-off-the-presses-hacking-ubuntu/ This morning I was pleased to find my copy of Hacking Ubuntu, Serious Hacks, Mods and Customizations, the latest from our ExtremeTech series. The book should be shipping from Amazon.com early next week. Congratulations to author Dr. Neal Krawetz for a great guide to Ubuntu hackery.

This is an incredible guide to Hacking Ubuntu, the world’s most popular Linux distribution. Unlike other books on the market, Hacking Ubuntu is not just a disjointed collection of a few tricks and tips. This is serious, down and dirty, under the hood operating system level hacking — blowing away the default system settings, unlocking hidden gems, and offering readers total control over their Ubuntu system like never before. Hacking Ubuntu concentrates on optimizing the appearance, speed, usability, and security of Ubuntu systems to squeeze every ounce of performance out of your machine. Roll up your sleeves, and dive into hundreds of hacks including:

  • Running Ubuntu from a USB drive
  • Installing on a Mac
  • Enabling multiple CPUs
  • Device hacks for wireless adapters, cameras, drawing pads, TV cards and more
  • Putting Scripts in Menus and Panels
  • Living without Synaptic
  • Email hacks including working with Microsoft Exchange
  • Hacks for video resolutions and enhancing audio and video
  • Kernel tweaking

This book isn’t for beginners. If you’ve never heard of Linux, then you probably should not start here. This book is for power users — people who already know the basics and want to get more out of their system.

]]> http://ckwebb.com/publishing/books-and-writing/hot-off-the-presses-hacking-ubuntu/feed/ 0 Briefly: O’Reilly School of Technology Opens Its Virtual Doors http://ckwebb.com/publishing/books-and-writing/briefly-oreilly-school-of-technology-opens-its-virtual-doors/ http://ckwebb.com/publishing/books-and-writing/briefly-oreilly-school-of-technology-opens-its-virtual-doors/#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:41:45 +0000 Chris http://www.ckwebb.com/publishing/briefly-oreilly-school-of-technology-opens-its-virtual-doors/

“We know that people want to learn online, on their own time,” says Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media. “We set out to create online courses that are true to O’Reilly’s high standards and take full advantage of the online environment, and the result is O’Reilly School of Technology.”

O’Reilly School of Technology

]]> http://ckwebb.com/publishing/books-and-writing/briefly-oreilly-school-of-technology-opens-its-virtual-doors/feed/ 1