24 November 2005 in Intergen & Search Technology | Comments (0)

Last night I delivered a presentation to various Intergen clients about how to improve search both on their websites and their positions on global search engines.

There was a really good turn out of people coming to see what we had to say and I hope that I provided enough detail to get people thinking about their own situations. The detail given in the presentation is reasonably high level and probably won’t appeal to the hardcore geek out there. If anyone is looking for any more detail about a certain area of search or would just like some ideas about how you might go about improving your own search then I would love to hear from you.

To download the presentation click here

- JD

13 May 2005 in Intergen | Comments (0)

Here are the slides from the MCMS.Rapid presentation (see a couple of posts below for more information on this).

Slides: Download MCMS Rapid.ppt

- JD

13 May 2005 in Intergen | Comments (0)

Last Thursday and Friday I was involved in a presentation to inform Microsoft Partners about MCMS.Rapid – a product that sits on top of existing Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS) installations.

This was the first time that I had delivered a presentation to people – it certainly was a little scary but I really enjoyed it. It also provided an opportunity to get to know some other people in our industry as well which was great. I also really enjoyed the flight to and from Auckland (been a while since I’ve been in a plane – now I’ve added needing to own my own plane to my list of required toys )

I will hopefully upload my presentation later today.

For anyone who doesn’t know what MCMS.Rapid is, I’ve written a mini-FAQ below.

What is MCMS.Rapid?
MCMS.Rapid is a product that sits on top of an existing MCMS installation and provides significant out-of-the-box functionality over what MCMS provides.

What sort of functionality is added?
There is a very long list so I’ll just run through a few of the key features that I liked:

• Reporting functionality (audited events)
• Template editing with out Visual Studio or SDO export/import required
• Editable site settings from within the website (heaps of them!)
• Common controls that can be added to templates without Visual Studio (again – heaps of controls)
• Extended meta-data functionality
• Heaps more

What’s the cost?
The download is free – the only cost is the time required to train people to use the product.

Is this a Microsoft product?
No – MCMS.Rapid was developed by a UK company called Artemis. Artemis had already developed much of the functionality that is included in the MCMS.Rapid product however Microsoft paid for Artemis to wrap their components up into a product that could be distributed.

Do I still need MCMS?
Yes – MCMS.Rapid simply sits on top of MCMS. It also doesn’t work on any other content management product.

Where can I find out more?
http://www.mcmsrapid.com is the official site of the product. They have great forums – I was impressed to see that the people from Artimis are extremely responsive. Also what I thought was great was their willingness to admit that there were a few bugs but they often fixed a bug within days of it being posted in the forums. Great to see.

- JD

15 February 2005 in Business & Intergen | Comments (0)

Steve Brookes (The D&I Manager when I started at Intergen, went through my first interviews with him) has made the move while in the UK from Cap Gemini to Rod Drury’s Aftermail. Great news for both parties involved.

Press release: Click Here

- JD

24 January 2005 in Blogging & Intergen | Comments (0)

I thought it must be about time for a general update. I’ve decided to try and blog more on certain topics than so much about myself. Maybe a 3 “article” style posts to 1 personal post. That should hopefully ensure that my blog is read by those who don’t really know me.

So far I’m enjoying the long weekend – I’ve been fishing twice which was great. Tried some fishing down at the harbour which is pretty easy fishing but what you catch tends to be very small but not very edible (well – I wouldn’t eat something out of there since it seems a bit polluted). I also cycled around to Evans Bay with my flatmate and we tried fishing around there. Unfortunately it was way too windy so we didn’t stay too long. The area looks promising however – water seems cleaner and deeper. I’ll certainly try out there again soon. I’ve always enjoyed fishing – used to fish a lot with my brother and Dad so it’s somewhat in my blood to do it. I’m yet to find a pastime that is so relaxing, gets you outside and into nature and also provides the occasional high of catching something. Great thinking time.

My weight loss is still going to plan. My rate of weight loss has slowed a little (only around 200grams for the last week). However that’s because I’ve been very busy with work at the moment. I’m supposedly doing two projects, one takes about 80% of my time, the other about 20%. However I have two other projects to contend with which aren’t huge but do take up precious time. This has left very little time to actually get out and go running or cycling etc. I did manage to fit in about 20km of cycling over the weekend but I feel I should be doing more.

The great thing is that I’m getting to the point where you feel you have considerably more energy. I can motivate myself considerably easier than I used to be able to and with minimal effort. I also just feel like doing more. Anyone who is feeling lethargic really does just need to exercise more. It seems strange to say it – if you don’t have any energy you should do more. It seems to release a lot more energy than you need. Something I’ve started doing, especially when coding at home (It’s a tad embarrassing if I was to do this at work!) is when I start to feel tired I get out of my chair and do a short sharp workout. It doesn’t take long – maybe 50 press ups, 20 sit-ups and 20 bicep curls. Takes a grand total of about five minutes but it wakes you up and gets you cranking! I suggest you try it next time you’re feeling a bit low and think a chocolate bar would help you out.

Anyway, hopefully this week I can get in some more exercise and keep the weight loss train moving along. I’ll keep posting updates of where I’m at and what I’m doing.

- JD

12 October 2004 in Intergen | Comments (2)

Microsoft Messenger has been pretty shot for the last 24 hours (some say up to 48 hours, but I haven’t experienced that).

Basically you can’t login anymore. Before that you could login but there was a good chance you couldn’t even message people. Now the Service Status page even returns an error.

This never ceases to amaze me, how badly do you have to operate a server environment to have it go down and die and not have it fixed within 24 hours? Surely they have a policy around this.

Doesn’t really sit well with Microsofts release of Live Communications Server which is supposed to come out this month to push MSN into the enterprise. I mean after hearing how nobody could use it for two days would you really see it as something you want your business to use? (I realise LCS allows all sorts of funky stuff to do with MSN, does it also provide a type of MSN server so you don’t have to rely on Microsoft? If anyone knows and reads this please leave a comment )

- JD

30 September 2004 in General & Intergen | Comments (2)

If you’re reading this JB I also said I was wanting to build up a system to act as a server. Feel free to pull one of them out of your draw and give it to me

It will be as equally appreciated as the chocolate coated coffee beans

- JD

23 September 2004 in General & Intergen | Comments (0)

Well I’m holed up at home working on some enhanced content loading application for a client. It’s somewhat nice working at home – my computer is faster, chair more comfy etc, but you do miss the social interaction and have to try hard not to be distracted at home.

I’m working at home today because after coming pretty much right after my last cold (a few weeks ago now) the cough esculated and now I’m almost back to where I was (minus the uncontrollable shaking, hot/cold feelings). Which sucks

I put it all down to the food we eat in our flat (and that I don’t do any better when it’s just me cooking for myself). The doctor suggested that I have blood tests because someone my age shouldn’t be getting sick so often but then did admit that it’s the worst year she has ever seen for colds in Wellington. So I just managed to get out of that (I HATE needles, but if I am still not well in a week I will get them done).

So now I’m on something new to hopefully make me feel better (I also somehow scored 800 paracetamol tablets for 15 dollars, shows how much you get ripped when you buy pain killers that are branded).

Anyway, back to work, I just wanted to blog my morning to get something new up here

- JD