Christmas LinkfestThe Hot Topics daughter is singing at Mass this afternoon, so I'll be on my way in a little while! But I leave you with a bunch of terrific links I've gathered recently: Solution Provider Strategy Time. And Money. Robert DeMarzo asks "What Have You Learned From 2008?": "For many, time took on new meaning in 2008... In speaking with dozens of individuals who attend live or online industry gatherings, I've found they are obsessed with their time and never wasting any of it ever again." While Robert Faletra urges solution providers to have "their heads in the cloud" when they make their sales pitches: "I think you need to use cloud computing, or managed services, or Software as a Service or whatever is most easily explained in a sales call to create interest. The pitch is around better cash flow for the customer, who doesn't have to write a big check all at once." It's important to show current and prospective clients you're running a dynamic, growing business. bMighty spoke to my old collegue Gayle Kesten on how small businesses can use social networking tools to build their brands and attract customers. The Economy Can we innovate our way out of this economic downturn? One obstacle comes from Washington, according to Michael Malone: "In all of 2008 there have been just six companies that have gone public. Compare that with 269 IPOs in 1999, 272 in 1996, and 365 in 1986... For all of this, we can first thank Sarbanes-Oxley." I try and be optimistic, though, and I'm bouyed by articles like this (also from from the Journal): Tech Chiefs See Bright Pockets, and this one from InformationWeek: IT Jobs Will Be Hot With Obama In The White House. Programming From earlier this year, the NOOP blog posted their list of the Top 100 Best Software Engineering Books, Ever. I've read #1, McConnell's Code Complete, and #18, Freidl's Mastering Regular Expressions. Let's see, that leaves... While we're on the topic of books, don't miss our Top Channel Books of 2008 and 5 Books The Top 25 Execs Are Reading. Keeping up with programming languages? Tiobe does every month. Their December rankings show growth for C++ and, believe it or not, Pascal. Along with programming languages, asking about favorite hardware and software is another way to raise a rucus among the tech savvy. Lifehacker's editors brewed up a few hundred, and then the readers weighed in. Do your teams give design issues short shrift? Learn from Apple: "Apple designers come up with 10 entirely different mock ups of any new feature. Not, Lopp said, 'seven in order to make three look good,' which seems to be a fairly standard practice elsewhere." Assorted Items An ongoing issue. Instapundit (and the New York Times) take on The Dangers Of Multitasking. Lesson: You can only do one thing (at most) at a time. Make sure it matters. Terry Childs, former city of San Francisco network admin, remains in jail, but at least was granted a hearing earlier this month. He's been held since July on $5 million bail. Really. Something to look forward to: Another leap second this year. I could use it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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