GSA Technology Council

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REST Fest to offer a day of idea sharing for web developers

Beginning Friday, September 17th and continuing into Saturday, September 18th, the very first Greenville REST Fest will attract web developers from all over the area and beyond.

REST Fest is a community unconference event focused on the REST architectural style and implementations of the RESTful architectural style. Based on the OpenSpaces model, REST Fest puts developers front-and-center with a handful of selected speakers, “open mic” style Lightning Talks where anyone can present about anything, and round-the-clock access to a “Hack Space” where people can get together and work on whatever interestes them.

REST Fest will encourage developers who have direct experience building RESTful applications for the World Wide Web to share their successes and their frustrations in an informal atmosphere. Talks that emphasise practical solutions will be favored over theoretical presentations. Showing your code is encouraged! The event is platform and technology agnostic with a leaning toward Open Source and OSS-friendly environments.

Presenters are encouraged to submit a title, short abstract (250 or less) and an indication of the “level” of the talk (beginner, intermediate, advanced). “How To…” talks are encouraged as well as “How Do I?” talks. A small number of talks (about five) will be choosen as a “Selected Talk” with a format of 45 minutes plus questions. All talks are automatically accepted for the “Lightning Talk” section (Five Slides in Five Minutes). If you want your talk to be considered only for one category (Lightning or Selected), indicate that on your proposal.

Learn more or sign up for the event at www.restfest.org.

via: REST Fest

Carolinas Minority Supplier Development Council Honors Individuals, Corporations at 2010 Conference

GREENVILLE, S.C., August 23, 2010 – To the applause of hundreds of minority business owners, corporate executives and procurement professionals from across the Carolinas, the Carolinas Minority Supplier Development Council 2010 Business Opportunity Conference recognized progress and achievement by minority businesses in honoring individuals and corporations at their recent annual awards program at the Hyatt Regency Greenville, South Carolina.

Dick Wilkerson of Michelin, N.A. received the President’s Award celebrating the leadership he demonstrated in creating access to capital through the Michelin Development Fund for Disadvantaged Businesses in the Upstate.

Joe Mullen of BMW Manufacturing was honored as CMSDC Advocate of the Year for his mentorship of minority enterprises, his active pursuit of opportunity creation, building community awareness and involvement, and BMW’s volume of business currently conducted with minority business enterprises. Sharon Campbell of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions was saluted as Coordinator of the Year for her tireless efforts to leverage minority enterprise and develop a more diverse supplier base at her organization.

Cited as Regional Corporation of the Year was BI-LO of Mauldin, South Carolina. BI-LO was hailed for building of community awareness around minority issues, civic involvement, and continued growth of business conducted with minority business enterprises across their multistate geographic footprint.

Denny’s Restaurants of Spartanburg, SC was honored with the coveted National Corporation of the Year Award for continued commitment to minority business enterprises, mentorship and support of minority businesses and their leaders, civic involvement, and continued growth of business with minority organizations.

CMSDC leaders also celebrated the Public-Private Sector Organization of the Year, presenting the award to Novant Health of Winston-Salem, NC for its commitment to minority business purchasing, technical and managerial assistance to such enterprises, and volume of business opportunities dedicated to minority companies.

Finally, Supplier of the Year Awards were presented to Hoyles General Contractors of Charlotte in the Tier One (<$1 million in revenues) category; DeWhit Inc. of Simpsonville, SC in the Tier Two ($1-10 million in revenues) category; and to Aten Clinical Solutions of Cary, NC in the Tier Three (>$10 million revenues).

The 3-day event drew top executives from leading organizations across the Carolinas, including Boeing, Volvo, Denny’s, SCANA, Clemson, Enterprise Holdings, Progress Energy, Bank of America, Sonoco, Duke Energy, BMW, BI-LO, Wells Fargo, Michelin, Mack Trucks, Merck, Food Lion, Turner Construction, Skanska, GE Healthcare, Milliken, Johnson Controls, SAS, First Citizens, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Dell, Coca Cola, Shaw, Staples, Lockheed Martin, Time Warner, Compass Group/Food Buy, Greenville Hospital System, Novant Health, Verizon, and GE Energy.

The program included a CEO Breakfast, a Legislative Roundtable discussion with public sector officials, a Purchasing Panel of leading purchasing executives, Diversity University training sessions and trade show, and the Awards Dinner to celebrate corporate and minority business achievements.

“We are particularly proud to honor individuals and organizations who understand that promoting and supporting the development of minority business enterprises (MBEs) not only helps the business community, but is essential to regional competitiveness,” said Ray Lattimore, CEO of Marketplace Staffing of Greenville, and one of the host organizations for the CMSDC’s Business Opportunity Conference. “We all benefit when business owners and leaders from across the Carolinas come together to increase opportunities for minority-owned enterprises, and to salute those who are demonstrating that it is not only the right thing to do but that it also makes good business sense.”

Minority suppliers are among the fastest-growing segment of today’s business landscape. This year, America’s largest corporations will spend close to $100 billion to buy goods and services from minority-owned businesses. “We are hoping that the fine example of business and civic leadership set by our prominent corporate members and certified minority businesses will motivate other corporations and entrepreneurs to join us in ensuring the success of our economy,” said Robyn Hamilton, Carolinas MSDC president.

For additional information on award winners or the CMSDC and its programs, please visit www.carolinasmsdc.org.

Tech Events This Week – 2010 Week 34

Wednesday, August 25

5:30pm Tech After 5 – Charleston
Want to make a trip with us and meet some great folks in Charleston? Join us at SouthEnd Brewery in the heart of downtown this Wednesday for Tech After Five.
>more

Thursday, August 26

12pm UWIT Social Meeting
The Upstate Women In Technology meet on Thursday at the City Range Restaurant. The group will discuss Women in Leadership: How to Get Ahead, Stay Ahead and the Technology Role in Leadership in a session presented by Nancy Eichstadt of the Carolina Leadership Group.
>more

Learn about the future of wireless in South Carolina at the September GSATC Lunch

Jerry FountainFew people know that Verizon Wireless in South Carolina is such a significant telecommunications employer. They have over 4,199 employees throughout South Carolina in 60 locations, with a large customer care center and region headquarters in Greenville county.

Join us in September as the GSA Technology Council hosts Jerry Fountain, The Region President of Verizon Wireless. He will discuss the past, present, and future of Verizon Wireless including the planned roll out of their 4G network.

According to Verizon, Long Term Evolution (LTE) is going to reshape the wireless industry. Not only will 4G/LTE expand the types of applications that can be used on wireless devices, but its implementation will open the networks to new and unique devices. Verizon Wireless expects to commercially launch its 4G/LTE network in up to 30 markets in 2010, covering 100 million people. Current planning calls for full nationwide coverage in 2013.

You won’t want to miss a chance to hear from Verizon Wireless about what 4G/LTE will mean to our future.

Event

GSA Technology Council Learning Lunch
Date: Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Time: 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Register for Learning Lunch: The Future of Wireless in South Carolina in Greenville, SC  on Eventbrite

Learning Lunch: The Future of Wireless in SC

Few people know that Verizon Wireless in South Carolina is such a significant telecommunications employer. They have over 4,199 employees throughout South Carolina in 60 locations, with a large customer care center and region headquarters in Greenville county.

Join us in September as the GSA Technology Council hosts Jerry Fountain, The Region President of Verizon Wireless. He will discuss the past, present, and future of Verizon Wireless including the planned rollout of their 4G network.

Jerry Fountain

As the Carolinas/Tennessee Verizon Wireless region president, Jerry Fountain oversees the company’s sales, marketing, network operations, finance, administration, and an extensive retail footprint in South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. A 30-year veteran of the telecommunications industry, Jerry has witnessed first-hand the evolution and explosion of wireless in the US and under his leadership, helped Verizon Wireless become the largest wireless voice and 3G data network in the US.

Jerry set a solid foundation in the 1990s to make South Carolina a significant telecommunications employer and today, he manages over 4,199 employees throughout South Carolina in 60 locations, one of which is a customer care center and region headquarters in Greenville county. Jerry was also instrumental in locating a world-class interactive learning facility in Greenville for enterprise customers to experience Verizon Wireless’ newest data products and services in the company’s first Wireless Data Technology Lab. And, with 4G/LTE making a 2009 debut on Verizon Wireless’ network, Jerry is focused on all the new opportunities that will help Verizon Wireless customers Rule the Air.

Jerry Fountain speaks to the GSA Technology Council in September.

Greenville iPad Developers Group Forming

This just in! A group is coming together to discuss developing applications for the Apple iPad as well as other Apple mobile devices.

The Greenville iPhone Application Developers Group is about getting traditional web developers, mobile application developers and “wannabes” iPhone developers together in a collaborative environment to:

  • share, discuss and learn application development techniques & tricks – new and old,
  • encourage and help solve development problems & challenges,
  • discuss future developments and opportunities coming to the Apple’s mobile platforms, and
  • discuss possible application ideas & concepts, while network with like-minded people.

First on our to-do list is to establish an active mobile app developer’s community right here in the up-state of South Carolina. We’ll target both web-apps and native platform apps development. In addition to technical issues such as programming in Obj-C/Cocoa or CSS/Javascript frameworks and Apple’s device interface SDKs, informative discussions will include marketing issues, SEO challenges and other related entrepreneurial opportunities.

Although open to all mobile platform developers including Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile, etc., our primary focus will be on development for Apple’s iPhone, iPod mobile and iPad, platforms.

Interested? Tired of going-it-alone? Perhaps you need some help getting started. Whatever! Come to our next meeting and see if there’s a fit – maybe we can help you; or better yet, maybe you can help Greenville’s iPhone Application Developers Group.

The group will have it’s first meeting on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 6 PM at Immedion.

Learn More: Greenville iPad Developers Group

Upstate SC Tech Events This Week

Tuesday August 17

8:30am Smart Home: Smart Supply Chain Community (Innoventure Community)
A day long event seeking to connect professionals interested in exploring trends and challenges in the areas of the smart home networking and smart supply chain management.
RSVP: Innoventure Community

6pm GSP Developers Guild
“A Tour of Windows Phone 7 and XNA 4.0″ by Chris Williams. In this talk, he’ll cover what’s new in XNA 4.0, especially as it pertains to Windows Phone 7. He’ll cover phone features, using the emulator and how to take advantage of the various sensors (like the Accelerometer) and features (MultiTouch, Gestures, etc) in your games.
Learn more: GSPDevelopers

7pm Upstate Carolina PC User Group
Remote PC Control… Have you ever been away from home and needed a file from your computer? Or need to run an application? This month Pat will show us how it’s done!
Learn more: UCPCUG

Wednesday August 18

12pm Radio: Your Day
Listen to us on the radio on any of the NPR stations in South Carolina or streaming live at the Your Day website.

5:30pm Tech After 5 – Greenville
It’s Tech After Five in Greenville with come very special guests. This is free to attend, sponsor supported, professional networking for tech professionals and entrepreneurs and the people that can help them.
Learn more: TechAfterFive.com or RSVP online.

Friday August 20

11:15am ISSA – Security Professionals
“The Anatomy of a Web Attack” / Learn about the “State of the Web” including the past years top web categories and attacks as well as how these top attacks work and how new Dynamic Link Analysis tools can help you stop them.
Learn more: Upstate ISSA.

See more on the GSATC Tech Calendar.

Thank You – The Pre-Meeting Slides

Before most of our lunches we show a group of slides saying “Thank You” to all the people who support us. If you’ve never made it to one of the meetings, you may have never seen the slides. We have a remedy for that. They appear below.

Droid 2 By Motorola Pre-Sale Starts August 11

Built on Android 2.2 with Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1, DROID 2 is faster, has improved QWERTY Keyboard

Verizon Wireless has announced that DROID 2 by Motorola will be available for pre-sale on August 11. Hitting all the right keys, DROID 2 is a feature-packed device that helps manage work and social life with an enhanced QWERTY keyboard, ultra high-speed Web browsing, 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities, full push corporate e-mail, intuitive social messaging and Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1 for access to the full web – all built on Android 2.2.

“When we announced DROID X last month, we reaffirmed our commitment to continue to bring unique Android experiences to the Verizon Wireless network,” said Jeffrey Dietel, vice president – wireless device, marketing and development for Verizon Wireless. “The DROID by Motorola was our first Android device, so it is important for us to include the successor to that phone in our portfolio. DROID 2 is not only a continuation of our commitment to Android but offers customers the features and form-factor they crave on the Verizon Wireless network.”

“With the new DROID 2, we’ve taken a big leap forward from the original DROID,” said Bill Ogle, chief marketing officer of Motorola Mobile Devices and Home Business. “We listened to consumers and are providing an even more robust experience built on Android 2.2 that includes a new keyboard, increased processing power, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities to send, access and share information even quicker than before.”

DROID 2’s super-slim design helps customers e-mail, text and tweet with ease. DROID 2 offers a redesigned symmetrical keyboard with raised keys for more responsive typing to push out notes and status updates. Speech-to-text input and the virtual multi-touch keyboard allow for quick messaging; or customers can also use Swype for even easier text input. In addition, full push corporate e-mail delivers enhanced features such as remote wipe and password enforcement so that information remains secure.

DROID 2 packs power and speed. Customers can enjoy the freedom of wireless with the 3G Mobile HotSpot and the ability to connect up to five compatible Wi-Fi® devices, and watch content on the full multi-touch 3.7-inch brilliant display, or share content captured on the 5-megapixel camera with enhanced functionality and DVD-quality video capture with DLNA connectivity to share on compatible devices.

Customers can also download favorite apps from Android Market , which has more than 70,000 applications, and store them on 8 GB of preloaded on-board memory and the 8 GB microSD card, which can be upgraded to a 32 GB SD card for a total cargo capacity of 40 GB. Popular apps available on DROID 2 include NFL Mobile (downloadable), Skype mobile and BLOCKBUSTER On Demand® presented by V CAST Video. Customers can even manage their wireless accounts or their contacts from their phones with My Verizon and with Backup AssistantSM.

“It’s great to see amazing new smartphones like the DROID 2 come pre-installed with Flash Player 10.1,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager, Creative and Interactive Solution Business Unit at Adobe. “With the completely redesigned and hardware accelerated Flash Player 10.1, DROID 2 users will be able to experience the full Web on the go.”

Adobe Flash Player 10.1 lets mobile users experience millions of websites the way they were meant to be seen – with rich Internet applications (RIAs), content inside the browser, including games, animations, data presentations and visualizations, e-commerce, music, video, audio and more.

R2-D2 DROID 2

In honor of the iconic Astromech Droid from the Star Wars Saga, Verizon Wireless will offer a limited-edition R2-D2 version of the DROID 2, available only online in September. The special version of the phone will feature exclusive Star Wars content and external hardware designed to look like the trusty Droid from the film saga. Visitors to the upcoming Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, Fla., can see a preview of the limited edition phone and sign up to receive alerts when the phone is ready for sale.

Pricing and Availability

DROID 2 by Motorola will be available at www.verizonwireless.com on August 11, and it will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores beginning August 12 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted. In addition to subscribing to a Nationwide Talk plan or a Nationwide Talk & Text plan, customers will also need to subscribe to an Email and Web for Smartphone plan. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access. Email and Web for Smartphone plans start at $29.99 for unlimited monthly access.

Customers can add the optional 3G Mobile HotSpot service to their DROID 2 smartphones for $20 per month. The 3G Mobile HotSpot allows customers to turn their phones into a wireless modem for up to five compatible Wi-Fi® devices. In addition, current Verizon Wireless customers who have contracts ending by December 31, 2010, can upgrade to any smartphone, including DROID 2, without penalty.

via: Verizon Wireless