On March 24th and 25th two of my favorite Xcelsius experts will be conduction the Xcelsius Advanced Developer Workshop in Dallas. This two day workshop will fill up quickly, so if you are looking to take your dashboard development skills to a new level, this is a great opportunity to learn from the best.

Learn how to enhance your data models with advanced Excel functions
• Learn powerful dashboard design and charting techniques
• Learn tricks that will help to optimize the performance of your Xcelsius dashboards
• Gain a solid understanding of XML and XML connectivity in Xcelsius
• Create server-based logins for your Xcelsius dashboards
• Learn how to pass parameters from one Xcelsius dashboard to another
• Learn how create detailed drill-throughs in Xcelsius using encoded URLs
• Learn how to use your Xcelsius dashboards to write back to your server

Learn more and reserve you spot here!

Last year, I was approached to share some of my experiences and successes within the Xcelsius community, specifically with Xcelsius and GMaps Plugin. The result from the interview was a highly polished video produced and released by SAP Business Objects.

Apple recently announced their iPad which does not include Adobe Flash player, which is a bold move considering it will negatively impact consumer’s web browsing experience. Steve Jobs himself demoed the New York Times website with blank boxes that normally render flash content.

This move along with continued non-support of Flash on mobile devices will certainly affect organization’s usage of Flash on public facing websites, which will ultimately impact the adoption of future Flash Player releases if this continues long enough.

Adobe’s poor attention to long lasting security and performance concerns and lack of foresight to step up mobile Flash Player development has put them in catch up mode. As someone who uses Flash-based content every day, I think some of the performance concerns are over-stated since I know that a properly designed application does provide acceptable performance on a desktop PC. I am not actively testing Flash Player 10.1, but I hope all hands are on deck to calm the growing concerns about the future of Flash.

Flash technology is deeply engrained within many web-based applications by a devoted development and creative community who develop content. As these software giants continue to take swipes at each other to gain market share and appease market analysts, sometimes they leave a mess in their wake. At the end of the day innovation and competition ultimately benefit consumers, so I look forward to seeing where this goes!

I would love to hear insight from others who have been following this saga…

As a visual thinker, one of my favorite tools for organizing my thoughts is a white board. The problem with a standard white board is no matter how big it is, I always seem to fill it up. After acquiring a new office space, I found a product called IdeaPaint which enabled us to transform over 350 square feet of wall space into giant white boards. We have big ideas, and now have room to sketch them out on our IdeaPaint treated walls. If you have a conference room or small office, it is definitely well worth the money to empower your visual thinkers. >Visit IdeaPaint

This photo is not me

If you happen to purchase paint from these guys, let me know.

Software as-a-service applications like Salesforce.com and Google Maps Premier enable organizations of all sizes to offload operational and infrastructure costs associated with on-premise software. Organizations that have made significant investments in on-premise business intelligence are now mashing up data from web-based solutions thanks to powerful APIs. In the last year, Salesforce.com and Google Maps integrations for Xcelsius have popped up making it easier than ever to integrate these technologies without any coding. Third party software solution providers like Centigon Solutions and Moss Solutions are bridging the gaps between these powerful web-based platforms and Xcelsius.

-Read more about this dashboard at EverythingXcelsius.com