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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

Small and Big Steps for Walkability

Active Transportation

I’m excited that our Pedestrian and Bike Safety Committee was able to work with our town to secure almost $3700 in reimbursement funding to buy bike racks. And our monthly meetings are defintitely raising awareness about Pedestrian and Bike Safety issues and beginning to build a coalition of people in town who share a desire [...]

Read the full article →

More Experience with COBRA Health Insurance for Unemployed

Advice to Unemployed

The fact is, when you are laid off, you can lose your health insurance immediately, despite the so-called protections of COBRA. The only thing COBRA does is entitle certain qualififying persons (most people who are laid off) the opportunity to continue their health insurance under the same group plan they were eligible for when they [...]

Read the full article →

Copenhagen Rolls

Active Transportation

Here is a short video of some serious critical cycling mass in Copenhagen, Denmark…

I’m wrapping up a final list of bike racks for our town to obtain through the Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s (MAPC) Regional Bike Parking Program. Today is the deadline to order bike racks which are then reimbursed by this program. Our town [...]

Read the full article →