I am not by nature a tech tools junkie. I tend to stick with what works for longer than my peers and database designs colleagues. That said, I am always on the lookout for something new that really works. Balsamiq Mockups fits that category for creating screen mockups as part of a design process.  

At Thanksgiving time of year, we are supposed to reflect on things we take for granted. I want to acknowledge that I tend to take some of my desktop tools for granted. Case in point this morning: don’t take your browser or you web mail for granted.  

Back in September, Peter Campbell kicked off a discussion about project management in the idealware.org blog. I wanted to pick up the thread by focusing in on Basecamp. Among project management-related tools, Basecamp has the buzz. It is quite common when we start a new project, that someone from the team involved will have used it and know their way around it.  

The Massachusetts Nonprofit Network will hold its first annual conference Friday October 24 at Bentley College in Waltham.  

These days, having an “Intranet” comes up a lot as a requirement for website projects. I’m using the term advisedly to refer to a range of needs for private space for organizing campaigns and collaboratively developing ideas.  

Note: previously posted on http://www.idealware.org/blog/, where Steve is now a regular contributor

Is it just me, or is everyone redoing their web site all of a sudden? This summer, we had a rash of requests to talk about web site options. I am writing this after a neighbor who has never previously talked tech with me literally stopped me in the street about her organization’s site.  

Moving our office this summer, we ended up having a gap between moving out and moving in. I got many questions about what we did with all our servers while bridging the gap. Fact is, though we use many such things, most of it is out there in the “cloud.”  

Data security has been in the news again lately with new stories about stolen laptops (Anheuser Busch) and credit card break-ins. Its easy to slip into the mindset that nothing is safe so why bother. One point of vulnerability that has been on my mind lately is passwords.  

I’ll be celebrating Download Day Tuesday June 17. That’s when Mozilla will release Firefox 3, the new generation of the Open Source browser.

I have used test versions of Firefox 3 for months and love it. I love the performance and speed even when I have multiple tabs open, which I almost always do. Right now, I have Firefox 22 tabs open, and the browser remains perky and stable. Yes, it’s using up a huge amount of my computer’s free memory, but I’d rather give it to that then most anything else on my desktop.  

Being in the customer service line of fire myself, I'm always impressed when a small company manages both good products and good service.