Blog Archives

  • April 19, 2010

    Ning Ending Free Service Won’t End Your Social Cloud

    Creative \ Industry Trends \ News \ Staff

    Ning is a popular social networking platform that is available through a software as a service (SaaS) model.  On April 15th, 2010 Ning announced that they will be phasing out their free service.   New Signature works with many of our clients to build social networks using SaaS platforms (including Ning) and open source software platforms Drupal and Elgg.  Today, Nick Judd drew on New Signature CEO Christopher Hertz’s expertise for his “Ning Ending Free Service Won’t End Your Social Cloud” post on techPresident.  In the post, Nick helps make sense of how Ning’s change will impact nonprofits and political organizations.  Below is an excerpt from the post:

    Chris Hertz, a technology consultant whose firm, New Signature, has done work for the Center for American Progress, Center for New American Security and CREW, says Ning could have avoided a lot of the hang-wringing he’s seeing if the company just announced price points already.

    “If you have a whole bunch of people who are relying on your product and you say, ‘hey, you’ve got to wait until May 4 to find out pricing information on these products,’ it puts people in an uncomfortable position,” Hertz said.

    Until pricing information comes out, it would be unwise to switch from Ning, even if there are a lot of services out there looking to court restless current Ning clients, he added.

    “Generally, I’ve been advising people to be in a holding pattern. We don’t know what the price points are, we don’t know what the features are.”

    “A lot of people have made a big deal out of it,” he said, “but it’s possible that they come out in a few weeks and say, ‘well it’s going to be $20 a month for nonprofits.’”

    Read Judd’s full post here.  Contact New Signature if you need help building a social network for your organization.

  • October 26, 2009

    David Geevaratne and Reed Wiedower Become Microsoft Certified Trainers

    News \ Staff \ Technology

    Microsoft LogoTwo of New Signature’s staff–David Geevaratne and Reed Wiedower–have earned the prestigious Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) credential to become part of the elite community of MCTs.

    Microsoft Certified Trainers are the premier technical and instructional experts on Microsoft technologies, and are the only individuals authorized to deliver training for Microsoft Certification.

  • July 27, 2009

    New Signature’s CEO Guest Blogs on getpickd

    General \ Staff

    getpickd logoNew Signature’s CEO, Christopher Hertz, contributed as a guest columnist on the getpickd blog with his post “Common mistakes. Easy fixes. (part two) — Warning: Arriving early to an interview may adversely affect your chances of being hired. “  The blog post has been picked up by the popular blogs: Consumerist and Liferhacker.

    The blog entry begins, “It is important to show up on time for an interview. This is a rule of thumb that won’t come as a surprise for most readers of this post. Incorrectly, most job applicants believe it is important to simply not arrive late to an interview. However, it is nearly as important to not show up more than five minutes early either. With many employers, arriving too early for an interview is only a slightly lesser offense than arriving late.”  To read the rest of the post, visit the getpickd blog.  (more…)

  • May 13, 2009

    Drupal 5.18 Release Contains New Signature Bug Fix

    Creative \ News \ Staff

    drupalDrupal 5.18, the eighteenth maintenance and security release of the Drupal 5 series was released on May 13th, 2009.  This release fixes a security vulnerability and several bugs.  One of the bug fixes was contributed by New Signature’s very own Jason Senich.   Jason’s bug fix (#305544) resolved the inconsistency between the theme_system_admin_by_module and theme_admin_page that caused the footer text to float up into the page for some themes when viewing the admin/by-module page.

    Drupal is a powerful open source content management system that New Signature frequently uses as a basis for the innovative websites that we build.   New Signature supports the Drupal content management system through our membership in the Drupal Association, and through the efforts of Jason Senich, and other New Signature engineers–who contribute improvements to Drupal’s core code and contributed modules.  Jason Senich is a project leader and senior engineer at New Signature.  He has been the lead developer on countless New Signature Drupal projects since joining the New Signature in July 2003.

  • March 31, 2009

    CNN segment on the Conficker computer worm featuring David Geevaratne

    News \ Staff \ Technology

    CNN segment from March 31, 2009 on the Conficker computer worm that features David Geevaratne. David Geevaratne is a network security expert and is the president of New Signature–an IT consulting firm located in Washington, DC.

  • March 8, 2009

    New Signature’s Red Staplers Participate in 4th Annual Dodging Diabetes Charity Dodgeball Tournament

    News \ Staff

    New Signature's Red StaplersNew Signature’s team, the Red Staplers, dodged for charity at the the 4th Annual Dodging Diabetes Charity Dodgeball Tournament.  New Signature fielded a team, and was an event sponsor, for the fourth year running at the event, which raised more than $9,000 for the Joslin Diabetes Center.

    Over 300 people (including the New Signature team pictured here) participated in the 4th Annual Dodging Diabetes Charity Dodgeball Tournament held on Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 11 am at Champions FieldHouse in Rockville, Md.

    Congratulations to The Medics for taking first place in this year’s tournament!  House of Pizza gave them a run for thier money and took second place.