10 Leaders who made a difference in 2010

2010 was a rough year. We entered it fearfully. We’re leaving it, unfortunately, without a lot more confidence that 2011 will be much better.


Sheryl Sandberg, COO Facebook - Just look at the company’s results and growth.  A great COO helps the organization do what it does best, but most spend all their time trying to become the CEO.  Sandberg seems to be satisfied being a great COO - making the company more money while it engages new opportunities.
Brian Dunn, CEO, Best Buy - One of the first retail bosses to really use social media to communicate broadly. In a sector that’s been knocked down by online retail, Dunn has done a great job of reinventing the core businesses of Best Buy, and in turn, helping it succeed.  He’s taken chances and invested in human capital.
Anne Sweeney, Co-Chair, Disney Media, Pres Disney - ABC TV.  Sweeney’s considered by many to be the most powerful woman in the entertainment industry.  I am impressed that she shows great care for the development of people in the Disney group of companies; ensuring great bench strength is a mark of greatness in a leader. This bodes well for the future of Disney’s organizations.
Reed Hastings, CEO, Netflix - You may ask how a “DVD distributor” made my list.  I put him onto it because he is an amazing survivor in a business many have written off repeatedly.  Lots of bosses lack an openness to new ideas, but by all accounts Hastings encourages challenging discussions that would be too much for many leaders.
Matthew Harrington, CEO of Edelman Public Relations. Great PR has helped a lot of necessary issues and organizations to make it forward.  Harrington’s customer-first attitude is refreshing in a sector full of huge egos and BS.  I have worked with Edelman and find them to be more caring about “real issues” than any other PR organization with whom I’ve engaged.  I chalk that up to Harrington’s philosophies of leadership.
Ratan Tata, Chairman Tata Group - If you don’t know his company already, you will soon.  Tata oversees a massive empire, in many sectors worldwide. Since buying Jaguar, it’s mostly known for autos in the western world, but it’s in everything, from IT to energy, on every populated continent.  I believe the world is tilting eastward, that many westerners’ “head office” in the future will be in the east. Tata’s will be one of those.
Indira K. Nooyi, Chair & CEO PepsiCo - Any woman who gets to the top of one of the world’s largest organizations has to be extra smart.  Nooyi has shown other bosses that it’s possible to grow the business and become more green at the same time.  Smart, tough, caring she continues to befuddle many in corporate America with her risky decisions in beverage and food.
Steve Jobs, CEO Apple - I know, you’re tired of hearing about Jobs.  But he made his company into the most valuable organization in the tech sector in 2010 and he continues to delight his customers and stockholders.  Apple’s products are an acquired taste, and many others will continue to knock them off to provide “better value.”  But right now, Steve Jobs continues to set the direction of many sectors.

Alan Mullaly, CEO Ford - He turned around a company left for dead a couple of years ago and is now creating great quality and profitable vehicles. An outsider, in an industry that most said can’t survive without a “car guy” at the top. He’s used common sense while listening to the market for direction. Not much else to say.

Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos - If you’ve never bought shoes online, try Zappos and experience customer care like was it’s always supposed to have been.  I led a shoe retail business for several years and know why most can’t make money.  Hsieh is one of the few CEOs who invest where it’s needed in each of the three main fronts - inventory, systems, and people.  He really walks the talk.  Customers love Zappos

Recipes for the Holiday Season:1

Marbled Gingerbread

Ingredients

1  8-ounce package  cream cheese, softened

1/4  cup  granulated sugar

1    egg

1-1/2  cups  all-purpose flour

1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon

1  teaspoon  grated fresh ginger or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4  teaspoon  baking soda

1/2  teaspoon  baking powder

1/2  cup  butter, softened

1/4  cup  packed brown sugar

1/2  cup  full-flavor molasses

1    egg

1/2  cup  buttermilk or sour milk*

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8x8x2-inch baking pan; set aside. For filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in granulated sugar and 1 egg until combined. Set aside. 

2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. 

3. In a large bowl, beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Beat in molasses and 1 egg. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. 

4. Pour about 2 cups of the batter into the prepared baking pan. Pour filling over batter in pan, spreading evenly. Spoon the remaining batter in mounds on top of filling. Using a table knife or narrow metal spatula, gently swirl the batter into the filling to marble. 

5. Bake about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve warm. Makes 9 servings. 

6. Test Kitchen Tip: To make 1/2 cup sour milk, place 1-1/2 teaspoons vinegar or lemon juice in a glass measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 1/2 cup total liquid; stir. Let stand for 5 minutes before using. 

Demand for online workers increases !!!

While onsite employment has been stagnant, demand for online workers increases...

Elance, an online firm that helps businesses hire and manage online instead of onsite, says that 2010 broke records for online work adoption. This was due mainly to the explosion of the smartphone market.


According to ComScore, over 45.5 million people in the U.S. owned a smartphone in 2010, 
and it’s the fastest growing segment of the mobile phone market. Elance says that this jump translated into a 98% growth in the number of jobs posted on its site by businesses 
seeking mobile developers this year alone and it’s expected to continue to accelerate into 2011.
Here are some other skill areas that saw a sharp increase in online workers:

• SEM (search engine marketing) was up 53% in job postings-SEM is internet marketing that promotes websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages through the use of SEO, paid placement , contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.

• iPhone development-35% increase.

• Google App Engine (a platform for developing and hosting web applications in Google-managed data centers) was up 32%.

• Job postings for HTML5 programmers and developers was up 31%.

ViewSonic G Tablet

The ViewSonic G Tablet is a relatively affordable ($400) Android 2.2 tablet sporting a 
whopping 10-inch capacitive touch screen.

In order to stretch the Android interface to fill the 1024x600 resolution screen, ViewSonic skinned the OS to appear like a dashboard, with apps running across the bottom.

The bottom of the ViewSonic G Tablet includes a docking port for optional HDMI and audio adapters. The left side of the ViewSonic G Tablet offers a power button, a covered microSD and USB host port, a mini USB sync port, speaker (1 of 2) headphone jack and power adapter socket.

The ViewSonic G Tablet's 10.1 inch screen (left) is a slightly different aspect ratio than the iPad (right) and towers over the Samsung Galaxy Tab (top).

The ViewSonic G Tablet comes with a USB sync cable and power adapter. The power adapter is a necessary evil, since the tablet will not recharge over USB.

In order to better facilitate thumb typing on its widescreen display, the ViewSonic G Tablet smartly splits the 

QWERTY keyboard into two sections. It takes some adjusting, but it's better than many touch screen Android keyboards we've tested.

2010 Camera of the Year: Sony A55

Sony, confronted with a vexing glitch of DSLR video, dipped into a bag of old and new tricks to come up with a remarkably simple solution. Along the way, it invented essentially a new type of camera, one for which we don’t quite have a name yet. What we can call it is the Alpha 55, and the Camera of the Year for 2010.

Product specifications

Camera Category: Interchangeable-lens Compact 

Sensor Size: APS-H                                            Sensor Type: CMOS 

Megapixels: 16.2                                               Fastest Shutter Speed: 1/4000 second 

Slowest Shutter Speed: 30 seconds                     Bulb Mode: Yes 

Live View: Yes                                                   Image Processor: BIONZ 

Viewfinder Coverage: 100%                                AF Points: 15 

Display Type: LCD                                             Display Size: 3.0 inches 

Display Resolution: 921600 pixels                       Articulating Display: Yes 

Lowest ISO Setting: 100 ISO                              Highest ISO Setting: 1600 ISO 

Burst Rate (JPG): 6.00fps                                  Self-Cleaning Sensor: Yes 

In-Body Image Stablization: Yes                         Pop-Up Flash: Yes 

Storage Media Type: Secure Digital (SD)            Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC)

Secure Digital Expanded Capacity (SDXC)           Video Capture: Yes 

Maximum Video Resolution: 1080p                    AF in Video Mode: Yes 

HDMI Port: Yes                                                Wireless Flash Trigger: No 

Remote Capture: No                                         Height: 3.6 inches 

Depth: 3.3 inches                                             Width: 4.9 inches 

Weight: 15 ounces                                           Price: $750.00 

Touch Screen: No                                             Model Number:  

The Runners-Up:

Canon T2i

The bang-for-the-buck champ of DSLRs turns the “entry level” tag on its head, notably in image quality: The EOS Rebel T2i achieved an Excellent rating in our tests under the latest, stricter-than-ever criteria. It’s all in there, including 1080p video at 30 fps, but this fabulous little rig, unlike the Alpha 55, breaks no new technological ground. $900, street, with kit lens shown.



Nikon D3s

ISO 102,400. 9-fps bursts with metering and focusing on every frame. Autofocus in dim light that’s as fast as some systems in bright conditions. Weapons-grade construction and weathersealing. How could we not nominate it? But as fab as the D3s is, we decided it was more an evolutionary step up from Nikon’s previous speed demon, the D3, than a major breakthrough. $5,200, street, body only.



Panasonic G2

Panasonic continues to lead the charge in the category it invented, the interchangeable-lens compact (ILC). The Lumix G2 took the honors in 2010’s three-way ILC shootout on the strength of great imaging and a pleasant video experience. Still, the Alpha 55 manages to do everything at least a little better. $650, street, with kit lens shown.

10 dirty little secrets you should know about working in IT

10.) The pay in IT is good compared to many other professions, but since they pay you well,
 they often think they own you.


9.) It will be your fault when users make silly errors.


8.) You will go from goat to hero and back again multiple times within any given day.


7.) Certifications won’t always help you become a better technologist, but they can help 
you land a better job or a pay raise.


6.) Your nontechnical co-workers will use you as personal tech support for their home PCs.


5.) Vendors and consultants will take all the credit when things work well and will blame you when things go wrong.


4.) You’ll spend far more time babysitting old technologies than implementing new ones.


3.) Veteran IT professionals are often the biggest roadblock to implementing new technologies.


2.) Some IT professionals deploy technologies that do more to consolidate their own power than to help the business.


1.) IT pros frequently use jargon to confuse nontechnical business managers and hide the fact that they screwed up.

New Applications: Apple iLife '11

The new version of iPhoto offers an array of full-screen modes for viewing events, Faces, Places, albums, and projects.

The app includes a variety of new slideshow themes, but one of the most compelling is the Places pin mode shown here. It aims to tell a trip-based story and looks pretty neat.

The program has also expanded its Facebook integration. iPhoto now creates complete themes within an e-mail message.

In addition, you can tag your friends from within the software, rather than having to enter Facebook separately.

Apple has made noticeable upgrades to the book creation feature in iPhoto. Here you can see the dynamic theme browser, which lays out your project in a carousel for easy viewing.

For those who miss iCards, Apple has added a new printing feature to iPhoto '11. You can build them easily from the theme carousel shown here.

The most exciting addition to the new iMovie is the ability to easily create movie trailers for your videos.

There are a handful of new auto effects in iMovie. Select "instant replay" to automatically insert text over a particular scene and have it repeated in slow motion.

The video-editing program already included several themes; Apple has now added some geared for sports and news.

GarageBand '11 doesn't have a huge amount of updates, but one major addition is a feature called Groove Matching. It lets you easily select tracks that play at different speeds and get them in sync.