Connected

Creepy Google Street View

I've seen some creepy stuff about Google's Street View - and some that are less creepy and more funny. But I happened to be "in" my neighborhood tonight on Google, and found that they had recently photographed my street! Ah, now we're getting serious. Google has come to Woodview Avenue.

Now some of you may know I am at the end of a very long house renovation project, so it was interesting that they caught my house while it was under construction.

But because I had been taking fairly regular photos of the house myself, and because the house happened to be in the framing stage in Google's photo, and changing quite daily, I was able to pinpoint the exact day they drove down my street to do the street view - October 25, 2007! It was a fine day, about 68 degrees and sunny in Austin. It was the 20th anniversary of the Minnesota Twins' win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, taking their first MLB championship. I could go on and on about how great October 25 is and why that's really the best day Google could have chosen to photograph my street. But I have packing to do...

Good game, Microsoft. Good game.

Many of you know that I am somewhat of a Mac OS X fan. One of the things I find really great about it is Spotlight, the little search tool that lives in the upper right of your computer screen all the time. I have grown dependent on having search available all the time, right at the click of the mouse.

Unfortunately Windows has been behind in this area for a few years now. I was suggesting to people that they use X1 or Google Desktop, because the Microsoft offerings always seemed to be ... ahem ... lacking.

Not anymore. I am using the new Windows Desktop Search and I'm pretty happy with it. It's fast, it's simple, the results are great, and it doesn't seem to slow down my computer (a MacBook Air running Windows XP). Good show, Microsoft. Get your copy of Windows Desktop Search here. Tell 'em I sent ya.

Firefox (IE Tab) and Constructware, not such a great fit afterall

A few months back there was a post highlighting how Constructware could be run inside of Firefox using a plug-in called IETab.  You can read the original post here.  I recently made the switch myself as I really like the way that Firefox treated the Constructware windows as tabs.  But last week I discovered a flaw that has made me switch back to Internet Explorer. 

If you are using Firefox with IETab you may experience issues trying to download files from the File Director.  You can view just fine, but downloads don't seem to work properly.  Additionally, you may have found that in the Submittals module there is no scroll bar to scroll to the right. 

So my recommendation is that you continue to use Internet Explorer when accessing Constructware. 

Worried about taking your PC on the jobsite?

If you are looking for a computer for your GC or Superintendent to use on the jobsite you might want to look at this new offering.  Personally I'd opt for a laptop but if you are looking for a rugged desktop, this just might fit the bill:

Check it out

New Buzzsaw Release! 2008.2

I'm happy to report that a new release of Buzzsaw hit the servers over the weekend and was available to all clients as of yesterday.  This new release includes some nice enhancements in addition to correction of defects. 

The highlights are:

Document Register Enhancements:  We have address numerous usability and quality issues to better support construction industry document management processes.  Enhancements include attribute display control, required attribute entry, "quick add" attribute population during file upload, and linking a document register to a specific location in the project file hierarchy. 

Support for Autodesk 2009 Design applications:  Buzzsaw 2008.2 is now fully compatible with AutoCAD 2009 (including Save to Buzzsaw and Edit Lock functions from directly inside of AutoCAD).  We also support design review and redlining the latest versions of Autodesk design applications with full integration with Autodesk Design Review 2009 and DWG TrueView 2009.

Hidden Groups:  This was actually added in a point release earlier this year.  You can read my notes about this here.

Submittal Package Enhancements:  We have updated the Submittal Package feature to allow all reviewers to add attachments (at every step of the Submittal Package Review work flow). 

You can download the entire What's New document here.

Client Server to ASP to SaaS to Web OS?

Over the last five years I've seen a huge shift in the willingness of companies to accept web based applications.  Five years ago most organizations were reluctant to use a system that was hosted outside of their network.  Now I see the opposite, organizations are preferring web-based, hosted systems.

It's a pretty logical shift in thinking; organizations are realizing that they should focus on their core business, not IT infrastructure.  So this leads to the question, what's the next shift?  Well this article points to Web OS.  In other words, no more need to run Windows or Apple OS on your machine.  Just turn it on, connect to the web and that's where your OS and all applications reside.  Clearly this would require ubiquitous wireless net connections, but that doesn't seem very far off.  We already have very good coverage from systems like Verizon's EVDO network (which I use religiously).  But with the networks of the future like LTE coming in just three years, we may be there sooner than you think.

Check out the article on Mashable

Over 1000 flights canceled yesterday, still think travel is the best option?

In the past few weeks we've seen huge flight cancellations from Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Midwest and others.  If you were one of the people directly affected then I'm probably preaching to the choir, but let's stop and think about the affect that this has on business.  Today's design and construction projects have gotten very complex and project teams have become more and more geographically dispersed.  In order to work together and as integrated team people are often flying around the country, rolls of drawings in hand.

What do you do if you suddenly find yourself stuck at ORD with the latest set of drawings slung over your shoulder?  Well, my best guess is that you'd ultimately find yourself trying to take advantage of the web to send the drawings electronically and and meet virtually.  So the question is, why not meet that way to start?  With today's technologies sharing design documents over the web is easy and then add to that the ability to meet virtually using web meeting systems and you've got very effective collaboration sans travel. 

Census Bureau: Back to Paper for Field Workers

According to the Associated Press (via Engadget), the U.S. Census Bureau did a big PDA project with Harris Corp. and HTC, and it hasn't gone too well. So they're ditching the PDAs, and going back to paper.

My own experience tells me that pencil and paper still outperforms digital tools in many situations. Voting, ticketing, inspections, punchlisting, etc. etc.

Now maybe that won't last forever. As the tools improve, perhaps this will change. But for now, I'm not surprised to see (another) high-profile field-handheld trial go up in flames. I just wish it wasn't taking $3 billion of taxpayer money with it...

On the importance of remaining calm...

You missed a deadline. You let an engineering error creep into your drawings. Maybe you made a mistake that cost an owner a couple thousand dollars, or more. The thought of most of those would send many designers or builders into a bit of a cold sweat, a nervous state, or even a panic.

But not this guy. He knows the real importance of remaining calm under pressure (so to speak).

Got Link?

No, I'm not talking about Zelda.  I'm referring to the ability to link files to forms in Buzzsaw Professional.  We had a release a while back that included this great enhancement and I wanted to make sure everyone knew about it and what it offered. 

Previously you could attach a file to a form, but not link to a file that lived in the folder structure.  What this meant was that a copy of the file was attached to the form and it was a reflection of where that file was at that moment in time.  This works great for many situations, but others call for a more flexible option. This is where file linking comes in.

With links you have the option to associate a form to specific file.  Essentially the form will include a pointer that directs the user back to where the file lives in the folder structure.  This offers lots of advantages.  For one, the user can follow the link to the file and then use the Buzzsaw viewing and markup tools to redline it.  The redline is then saved in the normal Buzzsaw Markup tab.  Additionally the link can point to either the most current version or a specific version of the file.  This way if the file is updated with a new version, the link will automatically point to the new version. 

As you can see there are situations where both links and attachments have their advantages...and now you have both options!