At one point last week as I was scrambling to put together the list of recipients for Dunkirk Systems’ holiday cards, I needed to go to LinkedIn to look up a couple of contacts. When I arrived at the social networking site I saw a familiar face, a wizard image LinkedIn puts up when it takes the service down for maintenance. When I went back after the maintenance window, I was pleasantly surprised to see more familiar faces.

If you have a LinkedIn account and you visit the home page, you can see updates to people in your network. As I have previously stated, this is a highly valuable feature of LinkedIn as you can find out changes for contacts, including if they have a new job. Now these changes include if a person has added a photo to their profile. The accompanying image is a partial screen grab from my own LinkedIn home page, showing networking guru Jason Jacobsohn recently added a photo to his profile.

This is a good step forward for LinkedIn, and as competition heats up from other social networking sites like Facebook, I am eager to see what other changes they will make.

Business • Technology • (1) Comments • Permalink

After getting an invite from a friend to follow him on Twitter, I decided to dust off and start using the account for the service I created a long time ago. My Twitter Id is thehotiron and you can view my page and subscribe to its feed at twitter.com/thehotiron. Or just look for the Twitter widget on the side of The Hot Iron.

Twitter is a social networking service where people can log any text at anytime you want. It can be used to share information with others as well as applications for group dynamics and business.

Do you use Twitter or not, and why?

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With most larger hotel chain charging at least $15.00 per day for in-room Internet access, I was pleased to find on a recent stay at the Sheraton Boston several computers available in the lobby called “Link @ Sheraton” with free Internet access.

But as they say, you get what you pay for. A couple of the machines did not work at all, and the ones that did required me to go thru the authentication process similar to if I was in my hotel room, but there with no charge. Once I did get online, I found a stripped down version of Windows and the Internet Explorer browser worked though did not handle pop-up windows as I would expect.

Another thing I expected to see that I did not was Google Ads – on several sites I visited that I had been to before, there were blank spaces where Google Ads would normally appear. I then did an unscientific experiment to prove this was the case, first visiting one of my own sites, About Iceland, and as you can see in the accompanying photo (click it for a full, larger view), the right side is blank where there should be ads and Google Maps does not appear at the bottom of the page either. Next I tried a parked domain name page, which did show paid ads. But upon clicking on an ad, I got a warning from the browser that the URL, which is to Google’s Ad network, was blocked. There was a text box on the page where I could “appeal” for the blocked URL to be displayed, and I put a short note in there about not blocking ads.

Why would they do this? Does Sheraton not want ads for Marriott to be displayed? Do they want to ensure inappropriate ads are not displayed? Or do they want a cut of the ad revenue for this “free” service they offer their hotel guests? Whatever the reason, I see this as an all-around disservice. Web site visitors may find the ads useful and blank spaces on a Web page awkward. And don’t forget the Web developer who may not have counted on content not appearing on a Web page.

Where I do send kudos to Starwood Hotels for offering these kiosks – I was able to find train and travel information using the PCs – I also recommend people invest in a broadband mobile card or tether their own computers to their mobile phone (as I did) to ensure you get the real, open Internet.

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I saw a brief Associated Press article on Crain’s Chicago Business’ RSS feed last night that spoke volumes to me. It was about the upcoming sale of the Chicago Cubs by the Tribune Company. As there have been delays in the overall acquisition of the Tribune by billionaire Sam Zell, there have also been delays in the sale of the storied baseball team.

Mark Cuban, the billionaire tech entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has publicly acknowledged he wants to buy the team and that he has submitted an application to Major League Baseball to do so. There are rumors, and this article states it as well, that other baseball team owners may not want Cuban to be one of them, namely due to his highly energetic and outspoken style as an NBA team owner.

Here’s his response to this query:

"I don't do things just for the sake of doing them. It's a passion project, it makes great business sense for me, there's a lot of leverage there. There's so many business applications, so many technology applications I can do in Chicago. There's a lot of opportunities."

Business applications? Technology applications? Awesome!

Mark Cuban’s investment of money, time – even his attention – to the tech and business community in Chicago would be very much welcome addition. Especially in the tech venue, where attention in the US is mostly directed to the Left Coast of the country, Cuban’s investment in the heartland will go well with the rest of us who have done the same.

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In this season of giving, one of the best gifts is to make a donation in the name of someone to a charity. I am fortunate to support several organizations with their Web sites, and one of them is YouthBuild Boston.

The tagline for YouthBuild Boston, located in Dudley Square of Boston's Roxbury neighborhood is “Strengthening Youth, Rebuilding Communities.” They achieve this by training youth in the community in construction and related industries. They also have a technology program that gets computers to people in the community. Their Web site lists complete details on their mission and programs.

You can support YouthBuild Boston with a monetary donation online, donating an item on their wish list or participating in their unique UBuild program. YouthBuild Boston is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. I have been proud to support them throughout the years and recommend others to explore this organization and do the same!

Diversions • Technology • (1) Comments • Permalink