If you have a couple of spare minutes, please share your two cents in the July 2010 edition of Scott Ambler's State of the IT Union Survey. The goal of this ongoing survey series is to find out what IT professionals are actually doing in practice. The survey should take you less than five minutes to complete, and your privacy will be completely protected.

The results of this survey will be summarized in a forthcoming article. Data from previous surveys have been used by university students and professors for their research papers, and hopefully the same will be true of the data from this survey. At the end of the survey, you will be given the chance to be entered into a draw for one of ten copies of David Croslin's Innovate the Future: A Radical New Approach to IT Innovation.

Jolt Awards Update: Round 1

Round 1 of the Jolt Awards is all over except for the applause, and that should happen in a week or so when we announce the awards for the "Book" category on (or about) August 1. Stay tuned.

Round 2 of the Jolt Awards -- category "Application Libraries and Frameworks" -- is underway early (hey, this is a lot of work and if we can get a jump on it...) with lots of nominations. There's still time, however, to nominate your favorite tool. Award recipients will be announced September 1 (or thereabouts).

And we're now accepting nominations for Round 3 of the Jolt Awards -- category "Mobile and Web Development" -- even if it's really early (like I said, it is a lot of work). If you have a favorite Mobile or Web tool, feel free to nominate it now by sending your nomination to [email protected]">[email protected]. The sooner the better. If you have any questions, ask away.

My Favorite Blog of the Week

The first thing I like about Mark Nelson's recent blog is the title -- Lying With Statistics. He followed this with a short analysis of Apple's iPhone 4 fiasco and subsequent press conference. It's the kind of examination I'd do if I was as smart as Mark. And then his closer: "In the world of PR, I think it's safe to say that we find all players guilty until proven innocent."