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Web Review Roundup V

Continuing our flashback of websites from days gone by…

02/25/03 – ENGINEERING LINK-O-RAMA

This smorgasbord of hyperlinks featured a nice cross-section of helpful websites featuring engineering resources. The list of 7 links remains surprisingly intact, with only number 7 now leading to a dead end.

1. Engineering Central - loads of job seeking info:

2. Engineer's Toolbox

3. Virtual Engineer - for those in the building and construction industry:

4. Some Nice Links for Engineers - Old Dominion University - links to units of measure and an acronym site

5. Engineers International - For EEs:

6. Engineering Links - Just as the name implies

7. (DEFUNCT) National Academy of Engineering - long list of associations, societies and special interests

[Read original review]

03/21/03 – THE GREAT WHITE NORTH

Link: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/

"Le site Canadien des entreprises et des consummateurs"

Strategis is a business portal setup by the Canadian Federal Government to stimulate business and economic activity in our neighbor to the north. The site has quite a volume and range of information resources on many different business processes. Our original review includes direct links (which still work) to special sections on Technology Roadmapping, Market Research, Aerospace/Defense and Medical Devices.

[Read original review]

08/20/03 – THE GEEK TEST

Link: http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html

The geek test is the techie’s version of the types of quizzes you find in magazines like Cosmopolitan that determine your level of “hotness” or the “spontaneity quotient” of your marriage. This tongue-in-cheek examination is just a fun little exercise to give your office “dozens” sessions a little nerdish ammo (“Yo momma so lost, Google can't find her.”). In our original review, I reveal my personal test score, although I’m not sure if the scoring model has changed in the last 2 years, so I should maybe retest myself. The site has been updated a bit since our last visit, with more fun geek humor stuff now loaded in.

[Read original review]

09/26/03 – TECHDIRT

Link: http://www.techdirt.com/

Techdirt is a news service that specializes in filtering the myriad of publicly available news about technology and business issues and then summarizing it in "blog" format, similar to something like slashdot. They also offer customized "enterprise blogs" that tailor the information to your specific company's needs. The site is somewhat more oriented towards the IT crowd, but the topics they cover on their public site are of wide diversity. What the site prides itself on is its blunt and honest analysis of pertinent technology issues by experienced editors.

[Read original review]

11/14/03 – DEMOMOBILE

Link: http://www.idgexecforums.com/demomobile/demonstrators/2003/index.html

DEMOmobile is an event known as the launchpad for the newest in personal mobile technology, and in the past has been the place to give the first glimpses of major new developments -- stuff like Java 1.0, E-Trade and the PalmPilot. The link above will take you to the list of those who launched products at the event two years ago. When you go to the page, you can hover your mouse over the company names to get a java popup describing the respective company's product. This is one of the best places to go to get a feel for what’s next in wireless and mobile tech.

[Read original review]

02/05/04 – WE BUILT THIS CITY

Link: http://www.citycreator.com/

This is a fun little web-based toy for engineers and creative types. Basically, City Creator is just as the name implies -- a simple, fun building tool where you can take small little icons of architectural parts and create an entire city out of your imagination. The end results can be quite impressive, the graphics are very well designed and cute, and the process is easier than making things with legos (it's a totally drag and drop adventure).

[Read original review]

Any reaction to this article? Send your feedback to gregg@roundtable.com

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In response to the main article in our last issue, “Getting Dirty with Customers on the Web” (TCP 7.2, 03/03/05), we received correspondence from Ed Lowy, the Unicorn executive whose online ventures we reported on…he writes:

Dear TCP:

In a moment's immodesty, I was Googling myself on the web and was somewhat astonished to find your article about Dart Forum threads on the Internet!

I'm indebted to you for your kind comments - actually as you can imagine the agenda has broadened somewhat and I now find myself as a reasonably regular correspondent. There have been various other threads initiated by me, and a couple started by others kindly complimenting us on our service since we got involved.

When we became aware of the adverse press we were getting on the forum, I was in two minds as to whether to ignore it or not. My experience is that the contributors to these forums are very passionate indeed about their topic, and one can get embroiled in an unwinnable public joust. However, we are very proud of our business and highly value our customers - and of course the Managing Director should be prepared to lead with his chin on occasions so in I leapt.

I do believe that the Internet is can be a fantastic feedback vehicle if one listens and comments in a considered manner - how else could I be talking to our end customers all over the World, pretty much in real time? What would be the cost of me achieving that in any other way? It does have its pitfalls, but if we are broadly doing the right thing in our business, we should be prepared to answer the occasional disparaging comment and confidently talk about why we do what we do.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Lowy
Managing Director
Unicorn Products Ltd
http://www.unicorn-darts.com