ABC News: Person of the Week: Christian Pilet

ABC News: Person of the Week: Christian Pilet

The Internet is so often a scary place, sometimes a magical place, but a very special place nonetheless. When I read this story, it warmed my heart and made me proud to be a part of this industry. It reminded me of what the Internet is all about... connecting people. And this particular connection was very powerful indeed.

In case you haven't heard already, a mysterious digital camera was found in the sand after the South Asia tsunami. Christian Pilet managed to extract the photos from the camera's memory. He was determined to find out who was in the photos. Below is a short excerpt from the piece, but you should definately read the story in its entirety.

Pilet took the pictures around to several embassies in Thailand; he thought the couple might be Swedish or German. Nobody was able to help.

He took the pictures home to Washington, and on the very first night he was home, his wife, Nicole, looked to see if the people in pictures matched any photos on the Internet. Many families had posted photographs of the missing.

"The very first image she clicked on, she said, 'This is the guy.' And I remember thinking when I was falling asleep from jet lag that there's no way you just turn on the Internet and, in just the first click or two, find the people," Pilet said.

But it was true. Nicole had discovered photos of John and Jackie Knill from Vancouver, British Colombia. Their three sons had been searching desperately and had posted their parents picture on the Internet.

Beware Bogus FBI E-Mails Spreading Computer Virus

TheDenverChannel.com - Technology - Beware Bogus FBI E-Mails Spreading Computer Virus WASHINGTON -- If you get an unexpected e-mail from the FBI that tells you to open an attachment and answer questions, don't do it. That advice comes from the real FBI.

Revenge of the Right Brain

Wired 13.02: Revenge of the Right Brain from Wired.com.

Logical and precise, left-brain thinking gave us the Information Age. Now comes the Conceptual Age - ruled by artistry, empathy, and emotion.

The launch of RYLA

In partnership with Moo Interactive, Whole Brain Technologies has launched the new web site for Rocky Mountain RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards.

Symantec Security Response - W32.Beagle.BA@mm

The Beagle Virus This virus uses its own SMTP engine to send email messages to any addresses found. The address in the "to" line may not be who the virus is actually coming from. So be cautious in blasting that person for sending you a virus. It may not be from them at all.

Whole Brain featured in Boulder County Business Report

Return of the king: content Web designers focus more on data, functionality, less on 'eye candy'

Computer Worm Exploits Tsunami to Spread Virus

FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) - A mass e-mail posing as a plea for aid tohelp the victims of last month's Asian tsunami disaster is actually avehicle for spreading a computer virus, Web security firm Sophos saidMonday. www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=UB1BCOU41LFHCCRBAEKSFEY?

Search for tsunami survivors goes online

Web sites worldwide plead for news of lost relatives, friends

The Power to Connect

Occasionally, I'm dramatically reminded of the true power of the Internet to bring people together, the reason why I do what I do. And the story of a father and son reunited after the tsunami when a relative spotted the child's photo posted on the Web by a Thai hospital stands as a glowing example of what good information the Internet can provide. You can read the story for yourself at MSNBC's web site.

Yes, the Internet can be a confusing, even dangerous place. Not all the information found there is true and accurate. But beneath it all, there is an enormous power to connect people who might not otherwise be connected, a power I have seen and believed in from the beginning. I remember a lengthy conversation in 1999 with a professor at Regis University about how excited I was to be involved in the Internet because of its power to connect, a power so strong I could feel it. This is what gets me jazzed; this is what feeds me; this is why I love what I do.

Now as we all grieve for the victims and families of this unbelievable disaster, I find some comfort, however small, knowing that the Internet, my industry, is helping to reunite loved ones, providing an outlet to express thoughts and feelings, soliciting donations to relief efforts, communicatiing stories of sorrow and heroism, and offering hope in the global recovery.

Tsunami

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the tsunami in South Asia. A more horrible natural disaster is difficult to comprehend. For a fact sheet and list of Relief Agencies, please visit TheDenverChannel.com.

We thank you for your support

Whole Brain Technologies would like to take the time this holiday season to give thanks to our wonderful community of supporters. Over the last year you've helped Whole Brain grow to be a leading source of Web development and e-marketing services.

Thank you for your support and interest in Whole Brain Technologies, and may the holidays and new year bring you joy, peace and prosperity.

Thanksgiving 2004

On this day of thanks, we want to tell all those who have helped and supported us over the past year how much we appreciate every one of you. Each of you have played an integral part in our success: clients, associates, friends and family. And we'd like to express a very special thank you to Greg and Bill who have put up with all our ups and downs (emotionally and financially), listened to our ranting and raving, and continue to love us anyway. Happy Thanksgiving!

Launched Final Exit Network

We've just launched a new Web site for Final Exit Network. Jim Moore of CommUlinks did a great job of providing us with all the necessary links, such as to Paypal for donations, and other information we needed. He was great at facilitating the communication with the Board so that decisions could be made effectively. It will be interesting to continue to develop this sites as we watch the organization develop over the next few years.

Migrating CUA

We just migrated the web site for Consumers United over to our web server over the weekend. We were planning this for several weeks, after many problems with their previous host. So far, everything seems to be going smoothly. We were able to protect the integrity of their extensive database, thanks to Heather's expertise. Sometimes these moves are a little tricky, but since we've been working with this site for nearly 3 years now, at 2 other hosts, we knew what was needed. But you just never know what unexpected problems could come up, until you get in the middle of it, particularly with an active and complicated database system, such as we've set up for CUA. Whew! So far, so good!

It's Here!

Well, it's finally launched. We've been working on a new look and navigation structure for our own web site for quite awhile now. Thanks to Matt, we've had the look for awhile. But you know how it is: "The cobbler's children have no shoes." Our own stuff almost always takes a back seat. But we had some new publicity hitting the streets today, so we had to set a deadline for ourselves. Let me tell you, we can really sympathize with what our clients go through to develop their own Web sites. It's a lot of work! And it can be an intense process!

Since Heather and I both do Web work, and we both like having control, we had an additional dilemma to resolve: who's going to handle what and using what programming language. This can require quite a feat of coordination, which gets confusing at times, but we manage to work it out. What's our secret? Plan as much as possible up front, deciding what needs to be dynamic and what will be static, remember to back up, watch version control and communicate changes. Did we ever screw up and overwrite each other's work? Sure, but it happened fairly infrequently and we could always recover easily and quickly.

So here you have it. The new site for Whole Brain Technologies. Enjoy!