Green Vineyard Management

Nice video of Parducci Winery (http://www.parducci.com) in Mendocino, California. Known as a green winery, it is reportedly the first carbon neutral winery in America. What did Parducci do to achieve this difference and accomplish such a unique green way of being?

Take a look at the video – it describes their process from the dirt to the bottle. How difficult would it be for you to…

· Switch to solar and wind powered energy;

· Purchase grapes from local vendors;

· Practice organic farming methods and pest management practices;

· Use eco-friendly packaging.

Is this something you are interested in replicating?

FYI – Our friends at the Napa Valley Grapegrowers Association have an upcoming 2-day event called the Organic Winegrowing Conference. Click here for more details: http://www.napagrowers.org/owc.html

VitSmarter Working on linux

We never expect to have users using VitSmarter on linux, but we are glad to have them, because we develop on Linux. Here is a video we made for our first user in Linux. Thank you! View in HD

Google Health Predictor?

Fascinating article from the New York Times...

A new symptom of the flu is a Google search... yes, in addition to coughing, fevers, and sore throats is the Google search. Take a look at the graphic!

How Obama Won It With the Web

FastCompany has a great article on the effectiveness of one candidate's web-based campaign.

Both candidates used the Internet to reach voters. But Team Obama mastered the medium early and exploited it to the hilt. Along the way, it changed politics -- and perhaps government -- forever.

Read More.

Vote!

The United States presidential election of 2008 is scheduled for today. Aside from addressing some top of mind issues like the economy, this election marks the first time... ... two senators are running against each other; ... both presidential candidates were born outside the continental US (McCain = Panama; Obama = Hawaii); ... a woman or an African American will reach higher office; ... and possible scenarios like having the oldest first-term president (McCain) or a Catholic VP (Biden). I do expect (hope?) voter turnout will be higher... so look for a comment or two on my "user experience" at the polling booths. I also encourage you to check out some cool tools like this interactive map from CNN -or the variety of tools on Google.com including mobile, news, and a fun maps of the candidates' journeys. If you haven't already, GO VOTE!

Register to Vote Online

As fans of webware, we have come across some tools to register to vote that are easy-to-use and free (we like these types of tools!):

• http://www.gop.com/actioncenter/registertovote/RegistrationInformation.aspx
• https://www.voteforchange.com/

Which one do you like?

Google Chrome Beta

Surprised that Google now wants us to use their web browser? Not really. Their web-based tools are pretty cool (we use quite a few including Analytics, Google Earth, and Google Docs). We're currently testing the integration of the browser with web apps, like VitSmarter.com. We'll let you know what you find. In the meantime, click here to download Chrome.