This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace. 10 minutes, 48 seconds.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

Although these systems have evolved, the business challenges remain the same: to provide the organization with the highest network performance and availability possible. The best chance for that is to get network administrators the information they need, when they need it so they can make well-informed and timely (even proactive) decisions.

The paper, Comprehensive Network Monitoring, explains the types of metrics these systems should monitor. It goes on to explain the benefits they can and should deliver. For instance, these systems, at a minimum, should provide high-level views of the entire network with the ability to ‘drill down’ to the real-time status of any device. They should report the status of network services such as email, FTP and access to data resources. They should allow proactive reporting of performance threshold violations via email and SMS alerts to the correct responder. Value adds could be easy installation, scalability to support a growing infrastructure and significant cost savings.

The paper intentionally targets a business audience rather than a technical one. I tried to adhere to white paper best practices by providing useful, objective information in a readable length of 8 to 10 pages. I included several graphics to help explain network architecture and the features a comprehensive monitoring system should include. The paper will appear on the CIO India magazine website.

Comprehensive Network Monitoring (PDF)

*according to Dataquest.

In addition to the redesign, the site incorporates many features to support community building. There is an event calendar that focuses on events of interest to the community. There are bidirectional links to their Facebook and Flickr pages. Any post on the JMN blog can be tweeted. The site has been updated to display on smartphones with total functionality of the web based site. Traffic is tracked in Google Analytics. Editorial, non-technical JMN staff manage the site comfortably.

In the first month, the redesigned site had over 1,400 unique visitors from 45 states and 16 countries. This is a 400% increase over the biggest month the previous site enjoyed. Memberships are increasing slowly and JMN will trend donations to determine if they are increasing as well. Tzaadi is implementing other marketing initiatives to help increase membership activity. One initiative underway is to ‘crowdsource’ the JMN community to help decide what articles it wants to have on the site.

Jewish Multiracial Network

The fonts themselves are nice to look at, with a range of script, serif, sans-serif and monospace typefaces. They can all be used to style text via @font-face. There are only eighteen fonts available — so there’s probably no need for Typekit to worry that Google is muscling in on its territory.

In fact, Typekit has partnered with Google to announce WebFont Loader, a JavaScript library for improving the web font experience. Typekit will also be adding Google’s new free fonts to its collection, so there’s clearly still a lot of love there.

The WebFont Loader is an open source library of scripts that Typekit developed to help eliminate the “flash of unstyled text” page load hiccup that we’ve mentioned before. The WebFont Loader offers a number of JavaScript events which allow developers more control over when their fonts load.

Even though things have been progressing quickly in the world of type on the web, with advancements in CSS, HTML5 and the rise of services like Typekit, inconsistencies in browser support and implementation have stopped some from making the move to web fonts. The new WebFont Loader gives hope to those still on the fence by providing a consistent way to handle what the browser does while the fonts are being loaded.

Youngme Moon, a professor at the Harvard Business School, through a combination of her unique storytelling, research and insights brings us DIFFERENT, a book that feels more like an intimate conversation with a friend rather than an instruction manual for MBAs.

Her message is simple: Get off the competitive treadmill that’s taking you nowhere. Aspire to offer the world something that is meaningfully different. Different in a manner that is both fundamental and comprehensive. Interesting.

Interested? Different will be available April 6th. You can pre-order from these retailers:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Borders

“The 7.0-magnitude quake, Haiti’s worst in two centuries, struck south of Port-au-Prince, on Tuesday. Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told US network CNN he believed more than 100,000 people had died. The Red Cross says up to three million people are affected.

The quake, which struck about 15km (10 miles) south-west of Port-au-Prince, was quickly followed by two aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.The first tremor had hit at 1653 local time (2153 GMT) on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said. Phone lines to the country failed shortly afterwards.”

Photo: ingro.comagenciadenoticias2.0

My design client, Mor Aframian, executive director of non-profit Morlove, which provides aid to indigent and abandoned children in Uganda, identified Haiti as her newest campaign months ago. In light of the recent events, Morlove is accelerating its plans and has begun fund raising and is accepting donations of basic and medical items. Specific needs can be found here.

Although Morlove operates locally in Raleigh, North Carolina, there are others with international reach responding to this crisis. Please donate money, blood, supplies or your time to the following organizations:

American Red Cross
American Jewish World Service
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
Artists for Peace and Justice
CARE
Salvation Army
UNICEF

To help requires more than good will. Leverage your local church, synagogue or mosque. We are uniquely positioned to make a difference.