Nikon has announced its flagship compact, the Coolpix P6000. Built around a 13.5 megapixel, 1/1.72 inch sensor (roughly 0.41 square cm), the camera has a 4x zoom starting at a respectably wide-angle - equivalent to 28mm. It also records RAW files in a new NRW format that can be converted in-camera or with the forthcoming Windows version of View NX or Windows Imaging Component compatible applications. The other stand-out feature is the inclusion of built-in GPS logging of the locations at which images were recorded. It is expected to start shipping in September for around $500/£429.99/€575.00. Now with added product images.
Sony has launched the Cyber-shot DSC-T77 and DSC-T700 ultra-compact digital cameras. Replacing the DSC-T70 and T300 respectively, both maintain the 10-megapixel sensor of their predecessors. The T77 is Sony’s thinnest model and has a 3-inch touch panel LCD screen. The T700 has all the features of the T77 plus 4GB of internal memory and a hi-resolution 3.5-inch wide touch panel. The T700 has a photo album-like database and is aimed at enthusiasts who want to store, display and share their images easily with others.
I rode the BART into SF last night for a dinner near Moscone, first BART trip I've taken with the new Asus Eee PC 901 with XP. It's a fine little computer, so little in fact that you can almost think of it as a cell phone or an iPod, maybe a big iPhone, esp if you add on an EVDO modem, which I have.
Now get this -- the wifi signal went about 1/2 the way across the tunnel under the bay! After the signal went away, with the lid closed the Asus makes a fine podcast player. All my podcatching software runs on it just fine. We may be getting somewhere interesting. (If only Apple had made a cell phone that ran Mac software, I know it's something like the Mac, but I'm lame and have no patience for platforms that are "something like" platforms my software already works on.)
I had a great phone conversation yesterday with Evan at Identi.ca. It was just an hour, but we covered a lot of ground. And Evan is an open kind of guy, so I'm pretty sure he won't mind me saying what I was lobbying for him to do next.
Lots of questions in yesterday’s 37signals Live chat about what’s going on with the new version of Getting Real.
So here’s the deal: The book is well underway. First draft done actually, but there’s still plenty of revising to go. (Rewriting is key after all.) We’re drawing ideas from internal conversations, posts here at SvN, presentations we’ve given, Q&A sessions like yesterday’s chat, press coverage (it’s always interesting to see how an objective party tells our story), etc. It’s a great read already and is sure to get better!
The new version is quite different than the original. Most of the content is new and the focus is different too. The first edition was for a web technology audience. This new version broadens the scope to small businesses and entrepreneurs of all kinds. Inventors, restauranteurs, clothing manufacturers, MBA students, IT workers, retailers, designers, artists, crafts makers, and tons of other people will all find value in the book.
(Note: Someone asked yesterday if people who bought the original book will get a free copy of the new one. Due to the volume of new content in this edition, the answer is no. The name may stay the same, but it’s really a different book.)
We’ve hired a literary agent to represent us and hope to finalize a deal with a publisher soon. We’re looking forward to partnering with a company that really gets it and can help bring the book to a mass audience. If you’re an interested publisher, drop Jason a note at jason at 37signals dot com (subject line: Publish Getting Real). We’ll forward your interest on to our agent.
Also, a big shoutout to Seth Godin for his help and advice re: traditional publishers and agents. His advice for authors is a great read too. (Also worth reading for aspiring authors: Secrets of book publishing I wish I had known by Mark Hurst.)
We’ll keep you posted as things progress. Stay tuned.
We all know content management systems (CMS) can be beneficial for most websites. However, they do come with five hidden costs.
Many think of a content management system as a magic bullet that solves all of their content woes. Unfortunately the cost of a CMS is greater than its price tag. Before making a decision about whether to adopt a CMS, or indeed which CMS to choose, you first need to be aware of the hidden costs. These include:
It is important that you understand the impact of each beginning with the cost of training.
Probably the most obvious hidden cost is that of training. No matter how well designed the application or how good the documentation, some level of training is normally required. In my experience training is particularly important with free open source systems. These tend to have less documentation and the interface is often designed by programmers rather than user experience experts. The result is a great learning curve.
The more content production is delegated, the more people it is necessary to train. Whether this is done through onsite training or video tutorials it is still a considerable cost.
Although training maybe an obvious expense it is not without surprises. Organisations often fail to consider that training has an ongoing cost. The more people using a system the higher the likelihood somebody will need to be replaced. This carries with it a cost in both time and money.
This ongoing cost is not limited to training new CMS users. Existing content provider also require refresher courses if they are not using the CMS regularly. I have often provided training for an organisation only to receive a call six months later because people have forgotten how to login. This is because they used the system so infrequently.
Unfortunately the price of having a lot of people editing your site is the cost of increased training. However, that is not the only cost that grows with numbers. So does the cost to quality.
In some ways, what a CMS gives with one hand it takes away with the other. Quality and control are classic examples of this. Enterprise level content management systems have complex workflow tools that prevent new content from going live until it has been checked and double checked. This is designed specifically to ensure the quality of content being posted online.
The problem with this is two fold. First, this kind of functionality is only normally found in more expensive systems. Second, few organisations implement this kind of quality control because it creates a bottleneck in the approval process. This bottleneck is precisely the kind of problem a CMS was supposed to solve.
I think this highlights a substantial problem with content management systems. They are often implemented in the hope they will solve what is an organizational rather than technical problem. Unfortunately technology cannot solve everything.
At one extreme you can open up your CMS to allow anybody to post to your site. This will lead to a decline in the quality of your content. On the other you can limit access and create a bottleneck where only one or two individuals can make content live. The technology can offer you lots of options along that sliding scale. What you need to do is find a happy medium.
Of course, at least a CMS offers this control. That is more than an HTML driven website can. However, a non CMS driven site does allow more flexibility when it comes to functionality.
When you have a website that is not built on a CMS the possibilities are endless. Because you have complete control over your code, it is possible to build any additional functionality you require. However, once you commit to a content management system things become more complex.
Although it is possible to build additional functionality that sits alongside your CMS there can be problems with integration. For example, if your CMS does not have a forum and you wish to add one, you may have to ask users to login twice. Once for the site and once for the forum. Equally you may find it hard to tie your CMS in with other systems that you later purchase.
Some content management systems provide plugins to add additional functionality. However, often you are forced to either compromise or wait until the next release of the CMS and hope it supports your requirements.
Although you may find yourself frustrated by a lack of functionality, it is equally possible to be frustrated by too much.
Unless you have a bespoke content management system, developed to your exact requirements it will probably contain functionality you do not need. That is because off the shelf solutions are designed to appeal to a wide audience.
Not only does this mean you pay for unwanted functionality, it also adds complexity to the user interface. The more functionality, the more complexity, the more to learn.
It is a problem that applications such as Microsoft Word have suffered from for years. Word is very powerful and provides an enormous range of features. The problem is that the majority of people only use a fraction of what is available. The result is that most pay for functionality they do not use, and struggle to learn what is a complex application. This is the problem many content management systems are facing.
The reason people have not stopped using Word and move instead to something simpler, is that they are invested both financially and in time. This brings us to the final drawback of content management systems.
Content management systems demand a high level of commitment on many fronts. These include:
The third area can be particularly tricky. Once your content is in a content management system it is not always a simple matter to get it out.
With such an investment in both time and money it is important to make the right selection of system. Changing your mind later is expensive.
So am I suggesting you should avoid content management systems entirely? Not at all. The benefits they provide are real and cannot be ignored. However, I am saying that you should go into the process of selecting a content management system with your eyes wide open. A content management system is not a magic bullet that solves all your content woes. However, it can be a useful tool is selected carefully.
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