Confessions of a Technology Junkie

I have to admit that I am a technology junkie – I love it. In my view, computers, software and electronics do things that even 50 years ago would have been considered magic.

I love finding software that does things better than I do it today, or solutions that save me time in my daily tasks or help me better communicate with my colleagues and clients.

Technology is also fun – networked PC games like Guild Wars, Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc. One of my favourite ways to blow off steam is to sit in front of my NHL 08 on my 360 and get schooled by some 12 year old half a world away.

Well, finally, I am leveraging my addiction to technology – for good (your benefit) rather than evil (blowing off an evening in front of Raving Rabbids).

High Concept Design & Media Services is hosting our first technology summit: On the Same Page (In a Paperless World)

www.events.highconceptmedia.com

This event will have a handful of guests and will showcase a number of technologies that are available today to help companies to communicate with their clients and colleagues in a more effective manner that they do today.

Topics highlighted will include note-taking and organizing tools, tools for creating traditional art in a digital age, online project management and communication, online meetings and conferencing, representing CAD design in a model environment, 2D and 3D designs to win more business and the efficiency of using digital standards and deliverables.

What we hope to do is showcase a number of products from a number of manufacturers to help architects and engineers to make informed decision about the solutions they can incorporate into their organization to make their lives easier.

At the end of the day, technology is supposed to make your life easier not make you swear at your computer like a drunken sailor.

If you are interested in attending take a look and register – we can show you what all this new fangled technology does and even help you create a plan to integrate it into your workflow.

Are you a Mac or a PC?

Are you a "PC" or a "Mac"? Chevy or Ford? Canucks or Rangers?

It will tell a person a lot about you.

In this world we are constantly inundated with information from blogs and RSS feeds and regular websites (oh yeah, our TV with the tickers, radio with the news updates and so on). It would be safe to say we are exposed to TOO much information to reasonably sift through it all and determine the priceless from the worthless.

How do you make your decisions, how do you determine what is the right fit for you with technology? There are different platforms and different operating systems, different versions of different software from different vendors -- it can be pretty overwhelming.

We just went to Adobe's CS3 launch event in Vancouver yesterday where this was readily apparent. Mac and PC users all asking platform relevent questions, did they need the Creative Suite Standard or Pro or the Master Collection? Would it be best to move to Leopard? Should they resist upgrading to Vista?

It all comes down to enthusiasm, customer experience and at the end of the day, you make those decisions the same way you did in High School -- just what are your friends doing?

The funny thing about technology (like most things) is that when you find that thing that solves your issues, it is relieving and exciting and you have a tendency to climb to the top of the hill and shout it to anyone who will listen.

As a technical solution provider that specializes in an array of custom services, we have the benefit of working with a number of technologies and that usually allows us to pick the one that we love the most (sometimes the one we hate the least). Occasionally we will choose software that has the most integrated workflow because we are working on a campaign that stretches from 2D & 3D to print to large scale signage to web and media based stills and animation.

The workflow integration tends to be a big part of a persons love of all things Mac, or CAD design through the Autodesk lifecycle of products, or working with Corel or Adobe's suites of products. It is great when the tool doesn't get in the way of your workflow!

So what technology do you love? Is it your Vectorworks? Is it your ipod? Your Blackberry? Your X-Box 360? Whatever you have become a champion of, let your love show and look for converts wherever you can -- because there are people you trust that are looking for the answers you were looking for and your passion may be as important as a technical review.

As an example, Corel Painter is one of my favourite products personally because I can do conventional artwork better and more efficiently that I can with traditional tools -- the finished work is so much better than I can do by hand anymore. I have all the conventional tools that I would have in an extremely well-stocked art studio, I can easily save various iterations, I can import/export digital images and even swap back and forth with Photoshop. Using a pressure sensitive Wacom tablet, the only thing that is missing is the ink stains on my fingers.

So when someone asks (and even if they don't), I am always going to stand up and gush about my love for Corel Painter. I only ever standup and cheer on the things I believe in -- sometimes to excess -- and not always to my financial benefit, because you can't fake the passion of evangelising your favourite technologies.

BTW: the thing I love best about Corel Painter versus inking pages by hand? It has to be "Control-Z" certainly a lot better than crumpling up art pages!

Ooops, I guess that should tell you whether I am a Mac or a PC!