Archive for June, 2011

Join us at the IORG “Virtual Literary Salon” on June 27th!

Posted on June 25th, 2011 · Posted in Uncategorized

Five influential authors who have written books on information overload will come together in a “virtual literary salon” produced by IORG – the Information Overload Research Group. The event takes place on Monday, June 27, 2011, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT. We will be hosting five authors – Dave Crenshaw (author of The Myth of Multitasking), Daniel Forrester (author of Consider), Maggie Jackson (author of Distracted), William Powers (author of Hamlet’s BlackBerry), and Jonathan Spira (author of Overload! How Too Much Information Is Hazardous To Your Organization). Each author will discuss two questions – why they wrote their.. Read more

The future is here!

Posted on June 23rd, 2011 · Posted in Off-topic

I was entering a parking lot at Bar Ilan university near Tel Aviv and noticed a brand new sign near the pay booth (left photo). I couldn’t believe my eyes… the sign says, in case Hebrew is Greek to you: “Parking for electric cars. Better place“. Of course we’ve all read about Better Place, Shai Agassi’s start-up company that is planning to convert the entire state of Israel to electric cars, by providing a nationwide infrastructure of charging points and by adding to gas stations robotic systems that will replace spent batteries with fully charged ones in less time than.. Read more

Paperclips and Facebook policy in the workplace

Posted on June 16th, 2011 · Posted in Impact and Symptoms

I remember well the hysteria around Internet use in the workplace. Back in the mid-nineties, it suddenly became possible for employees to access the newly invented World Wide Web from their computers at work, and managers in many companies were mortified: people might (perish the thought!) use company assets for non-business use, and in doing so waste work time! Back then, we saw many knee-jerk reactions in the corporate world. Memos would be issued asserting that no one may access the net without written manager approval, based on “business need”; anyone who violated this wise edict would be severely punished!.. Read more

The iPad is mightier than the pen

Posted on June 7th, 2011 · Posted in Off-topic

It has been remarked that younger people tend not to wear watches, because their ubiquitous cellphones and other computing devices make them superfluous (interestingly, this brings back the action of having to fish something out of your pocket to read the time –  a throwback to the Victorian pocket watch, without the chain!). But I’ve just been informed of another victim to portable computing, and it goes back much earlier than the watch. I was talking to a friend who is also a consultant and he told me that in his workshops the attendees often sit with iPads and other.. Read more