It is not often that I use this site to talk about non-CMS or non-Tech, but I have to get this off my chest. Seeing four inces of snow on the ground in April does not make those that love summer happy. We had four inches of snow here, but other parts of South Dakota received more than a foot of snow. In other words, I can't complain too much, but I still hold the right to complain a little! The good news is that most of the snow has melted with only a few snow drifts still left in the yard.

Seeing this much snow during the last weeks of April isn't unheard of in the norhtern plains, but it doesn't happen too often. I think the last time I saw this much snow in April was in 2004. For the meteorologists at heart, the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls has a good explanation for show these type of winter weather storms develop in April.

I have to admit that when someone submits a story and I trust them...I sometimes don't read the whole article before I publish it.  So until I read Dean Barker's Gadgetopia, I didn't realize his company, Blend Interactive, was featured in eZ's SHARE! magazine.  The irony is that if I had read an article posted at my own site by one of eZ System's own people...Dean's post wouldn't have been new news to me.  Sigh, I have been just too busy...

You may not have heard of Blend Interactive, but they do sport a decent portfolio of sites they have developed and designed.  Probably the most likely well known work from the company is the home site for the instant messaging client, Pidgin.  The SHARE! magazine features Blend Interactive, in part, because it is one of the most enthusiastic users of the eZ Publish CMS in the United States.  eZ Publish's roots is in Norway and the software is more popular in Europe.  But, as the eZ article implies, there is a push to generate more users in the United States.

Dean Barker from Gadgetopia is throwing the idea of a meetup for bloggers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Dean writes:

This is not a large-scale formal endeavor. We’re just looking to take over a coffeehouse for a couple of hours and discuss the state of blogging in Sioux Falls (and the surrounding area), and the common problems we face.

Personally, I like the idea of an informal endeavor as I often prefer round-table discussions over formal presentations. If you have an interest in attending such a meetup, you can either send Dean an e-mail at editors@gadgetopia.com and/or send him a comment from his original post.

Yesterday, I spent my time at the Techknowlogy Summit in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We don't get too many technology or geek conventions in the state of South Dakota, so I didn't want this one go to by without a mention here at CMS Report.

Keynote Speaker

The Techknowlogy Summit is a trade show with presentations by both national and regional leaders in technology. The keynote speaker for the show was Kodak Company's Bill Lloyd, CTO, discussing his company's transformation for meeting the demands of the digital age. It was an interesting discussion on the challenges a century old company faces when needing to shift their primary products (film) over to new digital products. Kodak's current modernization efforts began around 2001 and is expected to be near completion in 2007. It was an interesting story, a story that looks likely to have a happy ending for the company and its investors.

Breakout Sessions

The show also had some breakout sessions. I attended a couple Web oriented sessions as well as a session on project management (well done). Regarding the Internet focused sessions, all the speakers were knowledgeable but I'm not convinced all the speakers fully understood who was in their audience. The make-up of the audience was made up by about half developers and half small business people (many of them small retail owners). Naturally, a business technology show should have made sure those talks had the small business owners in mind.

However, the talks were more geared toward the CEO crowd. When the speakers found that the audience didn't contain the companies with the huge IT budgets, the speakers then shifted their talk toward the more comfortable IT people. From my perspective, the small business people were squirming in their chairs and suddenly felt out of place. Oh, how often we IT people spend so much time talking about what we know and so little time listening to the needs of potential customers!

CNET recently posted an article about how the cost differences between DSL and Cable is changing how people decide which Internet service is best for them. There was a time when DSL and Internet Cable were price competitive and we just looked more at the specs in deciding which way to go. But the market is changing:

A new kind of digital divide is emerging in the U.S. broadband market. On one side are middle-income and price-sensitive households, which tend to favor DSL service offered by phone companies. On the other are more affluent families, which gravitate toward higher-speed cable modem services." Read More at CNET

I actually started out with DSL almost seven years ago. Unlike the larger cities, here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota our communication infrastructure is small enough that we can quickly absorb new technology at a much faster pace than larger cities. We had DSL and Internet Cable a couple years before most of the folks living in such places as Los Angeles or even Kansas City went broadband. Broadband service through the local cable company, Midcontinent Communications, wasn't too far behind and eventually I switched my broadband service over to them.