Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week or so you’ve probably heard some of the buzz surrounding Facebook Home.

CLICK HERE FOR MOBILE VIDEO LINK

Because exactly none of us need a little more Facebook obsession in our lives, the almighty social empire has partnered with Android to bring us something that you can’t get on iPhone. That’s right – take that, Apple! Facebook Home is an exclusively-Android experience, one that replaces the app-studded, cluttered home screen of Android with an instantaneously engaging, immersive and distraction-free version of Facebook.

Basically, Home is every Facebook addict’s dream come true.

As Facebook writes in their official introduction, Home is “the family of apps that puts your friends at the heart of your phone.” Even before you unlock your phone, Home’s cover feed is rushing to show you your friends’ beautiful photography. That is, assuming that your friends’ photographs look good sliced to fit the tall, skinny screen of your phone.

The first reviews are out, and opinions are mixed. The interface is simple, but perhaps too simple. There are glitches and hiccups and a recognized problem with Facebook duplicating your contacts several times over. Some enjoy the immersive Chat Heads, which let you instant message your friends even as you use other apps, and some find them absolutely annoying.

Here is a summary of some of the new features…

Cover Feed

Cover Feed fills your lock screen with a flowing look at your newsfeed in images and enlarged text. This can either look beautiful and polished, like Facebook’s examples, or it can look like your friends’ crummy photos. Most of my friends are not brilliant photographers, and I’m a little scared of what Facebook would algorithmically highlight for me first thing in the morning. Ellis Hamburger put it succinctly in his article for The Verge, Facebook Home is beautiful, but what if your friends aren’t?

Chat Heads

Picture this: you’re chilling out to tunes on your phone when up pops the circular cropped profile photo of your mother, asking when you’re going to visit home. Welcome to Chat Heads! Now your friends can interrupt you with Facebook chat when you aren’t even using Facebook! Brilliant!

The new homescreen also combines your regular messaging with Facebook chat, potentially saving you some money if you have no texting plan, but let’s be honest, who has a smartphone with enough data juice to run a 24/7 Facebook feed but no texting plan?

App Launcher

“But where will all my apps go?!” I hear you. Well, Facebook heard you too, and they hid them all behind Facebook. That is, to get to your apps, you need to drag your own face (yes, you navigate the new interface by dragging your profile picture around the screen) to the Apps section of the phone. They’re no longer a part of the Android interface; the icons just sit there lifelessly, rows of square icons, kind of like… dare I say… iPhone?

If you want to be even more immersed in Facebook, power to you – go download Facebook Home tomorrow and enjoy. As time goes on, Facebook is sure to release updates to tackle the duplicate contacts and other problems, making Facebook Home a better and better product. (AL.com)

CLICK HERE FOR MOBILE VIDEO LINK

Will you try it?

SUBMIT YOUR RESUME HERE NOW

We’re currently looking for potentials with ETAP (http://www.etap.com) Power System Software & Power Management System experience.

*Immediate need. Potentials need not have an engineering degree, but submitted resumes must reflect ETAP experience.

• Contract Length: 6-18 mos (plus option years)
• Location: Houston, TX
• Relocation Cost: Included 
• Competitive pay rate negotiable based on experience.

SUBMIT YOUR RESUME HERE NOW

*Please submit PDF and MS WORD versions only.

Please email questions to brad.kingport@hitekconsulting.com

]]> http://hitekconsulting.com/hiring-electrical-engineers-etap-experience.html/feed 1 http://hitekconsulting.com/hitek-consulting-llc-awarded-gafsc-contract.html http://hitekconsulting.com/hitek-consulting-llc-awarded-gafsc-contract.html#comments Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:24:47 +0000 hitekllc http://hitekconsulting.com/?p=2667

Hitek Consulting, LLC has been awarded a contract to redesign the Georgia Avenue Family Support Collaborative (GAFSC) website; formerly known as the Georgia Avenue/ Rock Creek East Family Support Collaborative (GARCEC). The new website will help GAFSC better connect with donors, stakeholders, partner organizations, prospective employees and clients. The website will accept online donations, include searchable, online resource database, and will be fully integrated with GAFSC’s current network which includes three D.C. locations.

GAFSC was formed in 1998 when two organizations, Lutheran Social Services and the Urban Family Institute, reached out to residents and churches in Ward 4 and Ward 1 of the District of Columbia to respond to the needs of at-risk families and children. The initial planning grant from the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) enabled GAFSC to begin its outreach to residents and community groups, assess needs in the target communities and begin building the governance and infrastructure of the Collaborative.

In 1999, GAFSC began providing services with a small staff in a house on Allison Street and Georgia Avenue in the Petworth neighborhood of Ward 4.

From July 1998 until October 2002, Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSS/NCA) served as the fiscal agent for GAFSC. Following an implementation process that began in early 2002, GAFSC began providing services on its own as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

GAFSC currently has 3 locations throughout D.C. and serves families, caretakers, children and youth living in any part of Ward 4. Their boundaries are described below:

-From the northern tip of Ward 4 (and the District of Columbia), southwest on the DC/Maryland boundary to Broad Branch Road, NW;
-Broad Branch south to West Beach Drive;
-Southeast on West Beach to Piney Branch Parkway, NW;
-East on Piney Branch Parkway, NW to 16th Street; South for 1 block on 16th Street to Spring Road, NW; East on Spring Road, NW, to Rock Creek Church Road;
-Northwest on Rock Creek Church Road to North Capitol;
-North on North Capitol to Riggs Road, NE;
-East on Riggs Road to Kennedy Street, NE;
-East on Kennedy Street to Eastern Avenue

GAFSC utilizes a “strengths-based approach” to finding solutions to family problems. Maximizing on these strengths allows them to assist families in finding solutions within themselves. GAFSC believes that families have great internal resources and reserve, and that building on those allows them to feel empowered and successful.

Hitek Consulting, LLC would like to thank Shakira Gantt, Resource and Development Specialist; and Karen Feinstein, Executive Director at GAFSC.

]]> http://hitekconsulting.com/hitek-consulting-llc-awarded-gafsc-contract.html/feed 0 http://hitekconsulting.com/why-success-never-accident.html http://hitekconsulting.com/why-success-never-accident.html#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:42:20 +0000 hitekllc http://hitekconsulting.com/?p=2662

Successful people always seem to make their own luck and find opportunities, but it has more to do with their state of mind than anything else.

It’s often said that luck is when opportunity meets preparation.

That may very well be true. But all the big lucky breaks that got me to where I am today, and I mean every single one of them, happened when opportunity met an open and receptive mind. And I’m far from alone in that respect.

You see, it’s no accident that necessity is the mother of invention. Or that opportunity just seems to happen when you’re down on your luck or you’ve just experienced crushing loss or defeat. Those are times when you question your assumptions. When you’re emotionally available. When your mind is open to other possibilities.

Sure, there are lots of factors that contribute to your life, your career, and your business success. But I don’t believe that luck happens entirely by accident or that you have to be prepared to create opportunities for yourself. It has more to do with your state of mind at the time than people realize. Here are a few stories that illustrate how that works.

“One word … semiconductors”

When I graduated from college, in 1978, I had a degree in physics that was essentially useless. I couldn’t get a scholarship to a good Ph.D. program, so that was that. I was stuck. So I moved back into my parents’ tiny Brooklyn, New York, apartment and got a part-time job earning minimum wage at a local bank. I felt depressed and lost.

Then my girlfriend’s father took me in his Porsche to visit a high-tech start-up where he was chairman. The guy told me that digital electronics–semiconductors–were going to be big. It was just like that scene from The Graduate, you know, “One word … plastics.” I had no idea what he was talking about. But I loved his Porsche.

While roaming around the building, I struck up a conversation with an engineer, a young guy about my age. He was new there. He wore blue jeans and sneakers, said he was making 20 grand a year (that was a lot at the time), and pointed to his brand-new metallic blue Firebird outside.

That was it. I was hooked. I went home, called the university, and went back and got a master’s degree in electrical engineering. By 1980, I was an engineer at Texas Instruments. And the rest, as they say, is history. But if I hadn’t been so down and adrift at the time, I almost certainly would have missed the high-tech revolution.

Sometimes, you’re better off just giving up and taking a break.

By 1988, I’d been through a few relationships that didn’t end well, including one botched engagement. Lonely and disillusioned, I swore off women for good. Really. I actually told a friend, “Put a fork in me; I’m done with women.” It felt good to do that. It took the pressure off. Finally, I was free of all those expectations I had set for myself.

The very next day–I kid you not–I met my future wife. We’re still married.

It never hurts to ask.

Like so many people, I spent a few years lingering in what I like to call the middle-management abyss. I needed someone to give me an opportunity to break into the senior executive ranks but had no luck.

In Silicon Valley, circa 1994, the chip industry was booming, but my career was stuck in the middle-management abyss. For years, I’d wanted to break into senior management, but it was starting to look as if that would never happen. Not only that, but the company I was working for had seen better days.

One day, I decided to just get out of Dodge and chill out, so I set up a trip to meet with some key customers and partners. For me, that was fun and relaxing. One meeting was with a midsize microprocessor company that was fighting an ultrahigh-stakes battle with archrival Intel.

Throwing caution to the wind, I asked what strategies they had in mind to take on the industry leader, Intel, and what I could do to help. You could almost see the light bulb go on in the guy’s head. Then he said something I never expected to hear: “You know, we can really use someone like you.”

That led to my first vice president of marketing job. A big, high-visibility one, at that.

So now, I’ve got a question for you: How open are you? (Written by Steve Tobak for Inc.com)

Steve Tobak is a management consultant, executive coach, and former senior executive of the technology industry. He’s managing partner of Invisor Consulting, a Silicon Valley-based strategy consulting firm. Contact Tobak; follow him onFacebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. @SteveTobak

Inauguration 2013 Events

The American presidential inauguration occurs every four years and invites a spectacular amount of fanfare. The new president gets his own day of feasting, procession, statesmanship, and celebration. The United States marks its transition of government with a day of events that have developed over time to become our modern-day inauguration.

Cloture Club (http://www.clotureclub.com/) has put together the biggest list for our 2013 Inauguration Events special! We hope you enjoy the celebration of our 44th President and the 57th Presidential Inauguration.

Tuesday, Jan 15

Wednesday, Jan 16

Thursday, Jan 17

Friday, Jan 18

Saturday, Jan 19

Sunday, Jan 20

Monday, Jan 21

Small legal disclaimer: Events listed here are without endorsement, solicitation or verification of accuracy by Cloture Club or The People’s List. We in no way endorse or sponsor any event contained herein, nor are in any way endorsed/sponsored/compensated by any party organizing an event contained herein. It is your responsibility to ensure that your attendance at each event is compliant with applicable ethical and legal restrictions prior to attending – including (but not limited to) House, Senate, Executive Branch, and or proprietary ‘gift rule’ regulations. If you are an employee of the House, Senate, Executive Branch, or any other entity which operates under such rules, please take time to carefully to review them prior to attending any event.

Inventor Ray Kurzweil hopes to develop ways for humans to live forever, and while he’s at it, bring back his dead father.

Behind him is the support of a tech giant. This month, Kurzweil, a futurist, stepped into the role of Director of Engineering at Google, focusing on machine learning and language processing.

“There is a lot of suffering in the world,” Kurzweil once said, according to Bloomberg. “Some of it can be overcome if we have the right solutions.”

Since his father’s death in 1970, Kurzweil has stored his keepsakes in hopes the data will one day be fed into a computer capable of creating a virtual version of him, Bloomberg reported. Interestingly, one of his novels lays out how humans might “transcend biology.”

“We are a human machine civilization and we create these tools to make ourselves smarter,” Kurzweil told Scientific American.

In his latest book, “How To Create A Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed,” he writes about wanting to engineer a computerized replica of the human brain. If we understand the brain well enough, he says, we would be better equipped to fix its problems, like mental and neurological illnesses.

He imagines a search engine capable of accessing a database of your thoughts, stored in the Cloud. It would anticipate what people are seeking before they even know.

Much of this may sound nearly impossible, but Kurzweil has been spot-on about technological forecasts in the past.

“In 1999, I said that in about a decade we would see technologies such as self-driving cars and mobile phones that could answer your questions, and people criticized these predictions as unrealistic,” he said in a statement announcing his position at Google. “Fast forward a decade –- Google has demonstrated self-driving cars, and people are indeed asking questions of their Android phones.”

“I’m thrilled to be teaming up with Google to work on some of the hardest problems in computer science so we can turn the next decade’s ‘unrealistic’ visions into reality,” Kurzweil said in the statement. (HuffingtonPost)