Monthly Archives: June 2010

  • June 29, 2010

    Book Review: “Programming Windows Azure”

    By New Signature
    Book Reviews \ Branding, Website and Database \ Cloud Computing \ IT Consulting and Support \ Microsoft

    From the first few pages of “Programming Windows Azure” it’s easy to tell that the author has a great grasp of both the historical parallels to today’s interest in “Cloud Computing” as well as a good idea for where it’s going. Sriram Krishnan has a great conversational style, and the book is a tribute to good editing on O’Reilly’s part.

    Krishnan’s tips are quite useful, including how to get the myriad of pre-requisites setup with a minimal amount of work, setting up certificates, and which command line tools (and syntax) are necessary for full utilization and configuration. (more…)

  • June 24, 2010

    New Signature Presents Two New DIA Salsa Apps: WP Jalapeno and C2C Jalapeno

    By New Signature
    Branding, Website and Database \ Products and Labs \ WordPress

    New Signature has released WP Jalapeno–a free WordPress plugin–that allows you to directly embed DIA Salsa action forms into WordPress websites (we will be releasing a Drupal module shortly). This plugin provides nonprofit organizations with the ability to embed attractive DIA Salsa Action forms directly on their websites. This provides great control, greater relevancy and increased response rates. For the first time you can easily connect WordPress and Salsa, control the look and feel of your Actions through your WordPress theme, and enable custom validation and error styling using JavaScript. Distributed under the GNU General Public License. You can learn more about the plugin and download it at www.wpjalapeno.com. You can also see it in action on the homepage of Food & Water Watch’s Spill the Truth website.

    New Signature has also released the DIA Salsa app C2C Jalapeno. This commercial click-to-call app is natively integrated with Salsa and makes it easy for your supporters to use the power of their voice to advocate for change. You can connect your supporters directly to their legislators via phone and each action is stored in Salsa. Features include: Works with all Salsa target types and district types. Create custom call scripts, set maximum budgets and more. Use attractive default theme or create your own. Supporters can leave voicemail for targets instead of getting a busy signal, and the vm can be transcribed. Reporting–collect call status and notes from supporters. View real time usage and measure ROI. You can learn more about C2C Jalapeno and sign up at www.c2cjalapeno.com.

    You can also learn more about these at our booth at the Salsa Conference!

  • June 21, 2010

    Join New Signature at the Salsa Community Conference 2010

    By New Signature
    Branding, Website and Database

    The 2010 Salsa Community Conference is this week (June 24 and 25) in Washington, DC at the Woolly Mammoth Theater. New Signature is excited to be attending the conference (and co-sponsoring the Conference After-party). We can’t wait to spend two days collaborating with our fellow Salsa enthusiasts! Register today if you haven’t already. If you are planning on attending, please stop by the New Signature booth. We will be launching two new Salsa-related apps at the conference!

    For those not familiar with Salsa. Salsa is the Software as a Service communications and advocacy platform made available to nonprofits by DemocracyInAction. DemocracyInAction is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization itself, and believes technology can be a decisive force for social change. DemocracyInAction’s Salsa platform offers small and medium-sized 501(c)3 organizations access to the same online organizing engine trusted by brand-name nonprofits like Oceana, True Majority, and the NAACP.

    The conference is being held at the Woolly Mammoth Theater (641 D Street NW). The theater is located in the District’s Chinatown neighborhood, accessible to the Red, Green and Yellow Metro lines.

  • June 18, 2010

    Book Review: “Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant”

    By New Signature
    Book Reviews \ IT Consulting and Support \ Microsoft

    Stanek has done it again: “Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant” is a book all Exchange administrators should have on their shelf, or dogeared on their desk. William Stanek, one of the more prolific tech writers today, adopts a professional tone early in the book, which is appropriate. This is a reference work first and foremost, not a teaching guide. Consequently, if you’re new to 2010, Exchange in general, or lack a solid base in networking and messaging concepts, this book isn’t for you. For the messaging professional, the Exchange 2007 admin, or even a network admin well versed in Exchange 2003 the book is ideal. (more…)

  • June 17, 2010

    New Signature Labs Releases WordPress Easy Post Types Plugin

    By New Signature
    Branding, Website and Database \ Products and Labs \ WordPress

    New Signature Labs released the WordPress Easy Post Types plugin today.  This plugin allows publishers to easily build complex websites using WordPress 3.0.  The Easy Post Types plugin extends WordPress and provides a GUI interface that combines and leverages the power of custom post types, custom taxonomies, and meta tags.  Publishers don’t have to hack code to take advantage of the new powerful features of WP 3.0.  Easy Post Types is distributed under the GNU General Public License.

    Features

    • Ready to Use. Use standard WordPress query rules to quickly list content in your page templates, no need for any custom PHP coding.
    • Pre-Packaged. Create custom content types on the fly through the WordPress backend.
    • Themable. Available out of the box with the base theme or quickly override using your own.
    • Robust. Add unlimited fields to your content types.
    • Extensible. Many out of the box field types available, or create your own through the plugin API.
    • Customizable. Fields can be ordered in the template to allow better input workflow for the user.
    • Pluggable. Simply create a field and it’s plugged into your content type automatically.
    • Simple. One single call to display any field in an output.
    • Advanced Users. Access to the plugin object for advanced users at the post level.
    Features
    Ready to Use. Use standard WordPress query rules to quickly list content in your page templates, no need for any custom PHP coding.
    Pre-Packaged.  Create custom content types on the fly through the WordPress backend.
    Themable. Available out of the box with the base theme or quickly override using your own.
    Robust. Add unlimited fields to your content types.
    Extensible. Many out of the box field types available, or create your own through the plugin API.
    Customizable. Fields can be ordered in the template to allow better input workflow for the user.
    Pluggable. Simply create a field and it’s plugged into your content type automatically.
    Simple. One single call to display any field in an output.
    Advanced Users. Access to the plugin object for advanced users at the post level.

  • June 11, 2010

    Book Review: “Windows 7 Annoyances”

    By New Signature
    Book Reviews \ IT Consulting and Support \ Microsoft

    Let me preface this review with a caveat: “Windows 7 Annoyances“, thanks to author David A. Karp, is a great book that every single IT professional supporting desktop operating systems should read. Several chapters bridge the gap between highly technical works such as Windows Internals and the lighter marketing communications that emerges from Redmond’s own website. For this reason alone, the book is important to read, especially as it explores areas that Internals doesn’t dive into (the registry chapter is a good example).

    Unfortunately, the book fails to live up to those great chapters: a series of editing errors, outright mistakes, and an incurious attitude towards architectural decisions reduce the remaining chapters to an exercise in frustration. Finally, the target of the book is never entirely clear, leading Karp to make statements that target laypeople and advanced users, who are two different audiences. (more…)

  • June 1, 2010

    New Signature Wins Five 2010 Communicator Awards

    By New Signature
    Awards \ Branding, Website and Database

    New Signature’s visually stunning, innovative websites earned three Gold Communicator Awards and two Silver Communicator awards in the 2010 Communicator Awards.  The International Academy of the Visual Arts announced the winners and four websites that New Signature designed and developed won five awards.  New Signature’s winning websites are Working America’s I Am Not Your ATM (Gold in the Activism category and Gold in the specialty category of Best Homepage), Crystal Pools (Gold in the Construction category), InsideIRAN (Silver in the Activism category), and the Dodging Diabetes Charity Dodgeball Tournament (Silver in the Events category). (more…)