Using Google Maps to Advocate for Pedestrian Improvements

Active Transportation

Google maps have helped our town’s Pedestrian and Bicycle advisory committee by allowing us to project a satellite or streetview image on the wall for discussion. Using screencast software, I recently incorporated this into a presentation for a grant application to fund enhancements at two crosswalks:

I was looking for a simple way to share these [...]

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And the Oscar Goes to…Apple

Creative Life

The iPhone 4 is out and while mobile and tech gadget gurus will analyze its features, this 2-minute video describing the “Facetime” feature deserves the Oscar. The video pulls all the right heartstrings and makes the case for why you just have to buy your grandparents one of these NOW. From the Apple website:
People have [...]

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DaveWrites: A New Look

Creative Life

This blog started in 2006 as the writing anchor to many of my endeavors. I am simplifying, consolidating and focusing my online presence to more clearly define the DaveWrites “brand” around what I do best:

notice opportunities to use technology to make our lives better,
research how it works, and
write about it in a way that everyday [...]

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Race Timing Simplified with RFID

Technology How-To

Saturday, I ran the Harpoon 5-miler here in Boston. Thanks to a new technology, this was the simplest and easiest race ever for tracking my time. The race bibs had ChronoTrack B-Tag strips–completely eliminating the hassle of a timing chip. I did OK:
Nettime Pace Name [...]

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BeeTagg Localizes Content

Building Community

This past weekend at the Burlington, VT ECHO Center, I saw this curious sign:

Once I downloaded the app reader described on the sign and pointed my iPhone camera at the honeycomb pattern, the software decoded that pattern into a web address and started playing a video about a tree planting with the Missisquoi River Basin [...]

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Active Community Transportation Act Invests in our Future

Active Transportation

If you would like to see more Federal money spent on local projects to promote and make safer more bicycling and walking, call your Congressional Representative and ask him or her to be a co-sponsor on H.R. 4722, the Active Community Transportation Act. It is important to make the call this week, in support of [...]

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Stealing the Future from our Kids

Politics

This week marked the 1-year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act–the stimulus bill that pumped $787 billion into the U.S. Economy to avert financial catastrophe and a 2nd Great Depression. We can debate all day about could have, should have, would haves with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, but I do believe, on [...]

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How to Request a Review of a Denial of Unemployment Benefits

Advice to Unemployed

A number of people who are unemployed in Massachusetts and have lost their benefits due to situations with part-time employment, freelance income, and problems accepting or refusing employment have commented on my blog or sent me emails asking for help. I made some calls today and decided to post some information here in the hope [...]

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Take Responsibility for Spam Comments on your Blogs

Social Media

Comment spammers are relentless. I spend time every day just deleting the comments that make it through Akismet and other spam filters.
The spam-filtering service Akismet defeats most automated spam, but I suspect there is a class of low-wage human-powered spamming going on based on some internet marketer’s idea of link building.
The reason some people post [...]

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How to Incorporate a Consulting Practice in Massachusetts

Business Planning

As I formalized the business organization for Dave Atkins Media, Inc., I learned a few things I am going to share here–sort of a corollary to my popular post on What I’ve Learned about Unemployment in Massachusetts.
But First Things First
Until you are seriously committed to starting a business, you don’t need to do anything more [...]

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