The Force 5 Connection » Technology

Knowledge Nuggets

Christian Mattix — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:30:08 +0000

Anyone who has done development, design, or IT knows that over the course of working on a project, you collect various “nuggets” of knowledge that you ever learn or find. Here I’m going to share some of what I’ve discovered that may be able to help you in your own projects. I have cited the [...]

The Cost of Free

Butch Whitmire — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:48:32 +0000

So, why are so many sales people and marketers using “free” (or ridiculously under-priced) to gain business? For me, there are only four plausible explanations:

Is the Twitter nest getting crowded? Speculating Twitter’s next move

Nevin McElwrath — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:00:16 +0000

Recent news of Twitter purchasing Tweetdeck and cutting off third-party development of Twitter clients has me wondering where Twitter is headed. Twitter has no doubt proved itself as a contender in the online service arena. But can it prove it’s well-carved niche with the likes of Google and Facebook? With the limitation of additional third-party [...]

Netflix takes over the Internet

Christian Mattix — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:44:06 +0000

According to a report by Sandvine, Netflix is now the largest source of internet traffic in North America during peak hours. Netflix streaming video service now accounts fro about 29% of peak traffic, overtaking P2P, Bittorrent, and Social Networking.

Web of One

David Morgan — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:50:44 +0000

Is the filtering and data mining on the Internet good for you?

Plymouth Indiana Riverside Intermediate School 6th Graders rank #1 in the nation on FBI contest

Christian Mattix — Fri, 13 May 2011 14:39:57 +0000

In a world where we often hear about “these kids these days” it is great to hear about those doing very well. This spring the 6th graders from Riverside Intermediate School in Plymouth, IN for scoring highest in the nation for April 2011 on the FBI-SOS Internet Safety Challenge. From the FBI-SOS Internet Safety Challenge [...]

How-To: Create a Simple Slideshow Header in Drupal 7

Christian Mattix — Thu, 05 May 2011 17:23:44 +0000

UPDATE: Since the posting of this article there has been dramatic improvements by the community and now this is no longer the best way to implement this feature. We now use the "Views Slideshow," found at: http://drupal.org/project/views_slideshow. We have used this method to create the various slideshows for the City of South Bend at www.SouthBendOn.com. One of the more common design elements of modern webpage design is a large content area on the landing page of a website. Though there are some Drupal 7 themes that have this feature already (Marinelli comes to mind), what if you want to use a different base theme (like Zen)? In this How-To I will discuss how Force 5 created a simple slideshow that can be used in any theme.

Why Facebook launched the Send button

Nevin McElwrath — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:26:45 +0000

Facebook on Monday launched a new way to share content online - the Send button. While the functionality is nothing new, how you share content with friends may change with this new process of sharing. Facebook's goal is to be that "pipe" in which you share more and more information, ultimately learning much more about you so it can deliver specific and targeted advertising down the road.

Where in the world are you?

David Morgan — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:53:33 +0000

For the last week, the tech news has been reporting that Apple has secret files on the iPhone that track user location and store it on the device, without the permission of the device owner. It's unclear what the data is used for and why Apple has been collecting it in iOS products that carry a 3G antenna for nearly a year now. Microsoft and Android are doing essentially the same thing. Is this an invasion of privacy?

New Research Shows Mobile Internet Usage a Daily Habit for One in Five Americans

David Morgan — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:00:40 +0000

A recent study by Morgan Stanley projects mobile internet users to exceed desktop internet users within the next few years. (2015) Yikes! - - Powerful stat. Believe it or not, the question isn’t “Should you go mobile?” but rather “Can you afford not to…?”