Brad Rourke

Brad Rourke’s Blog

  • Google Chrome OS Netbook My Go-To Household Computer

    Friends and colleagues know that I am very, very heavily into new technology — and I typically put it through its paces. I want everything just to work. I am also seemingly on a constant search to find just the right tool for the right job. When it comes to matching computing activity with equipment,…

  • You Never Know

    Last week, I took my 13 year old son and some friends to a paintball field. We had never been before. As we drove out, we shared about how some of us were a little nervous, but the overall emotion was excited anticipation. Like race horses trembling before the gate opens, we were ready to…

  • Reactions To Moving A Community Hub To Facebook

    I just sent out my periodic email to folks (you can sign up at the right) and in it I gave a quick recap of the reaction to our decision this week to move Rockville Central to Facebook. I thought you might be interested to read the note, as it collects much of the response…

  • Moving A Local Blog To Facebook-Only

    This morning we announced that our highly successful local news blog, Rockville Central, would be shifting focus. We will no longer be updating Rockville Central’s website, but instead will shift 100% to Facebook. We think this is a pioneering — and gutsy — move. What allows us to make this move is that Rockville Central…

  • Noelle McAfee Interviews Ziad Majed

    My good friend Noelle McAfee has just published a very important intereview that she conducted with Lebanese intellectual and activist Ziad Majed. The full interview is here. I urge you in the strongest possible way to read it. Here is one small piece: NM: You know, the velvet revolutions in Eastern Europe varied according to what…

  • What Happens At A Focus Group

    My friends and colleagues who follow me on Facebook or Twitter might have noticed lately that I have been traveling all over the country, moderating focus groups. Just in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been to Chicago, New York, Billings MT, Detroit, and more. Before I ever started working with focus groups, I sort…

  • The West End At The Uncorked Wine Festival

    Friends and colleagues may know I am in a band called The West End. Over the summer, we were fortunate enough to play an awesome gig at the City of Rockville’s annual “Uncorked Wine Festival.” When we play City gigs, they always provide pro sound (usually through the very awesome RCI Sound). Since we knew there’s…

  • Social Network Face-Off: Take A Survey

    Please take this survey on social network services. It is short and easy. Over the weekend, I innocently posted the following on Facebook: Does anyone really use Twitter anymore? Why? I should have known it would happen, but that question touched off a long comment trail that included lots of friends and colleagues. There was…

  • Stay Where I Can See You

    I am writing this at the airport, between flights. There is a family nearby, with a toddler. He likes to wander around, clearly. The mother calls to him, “Stay where I can see you!” It’s a parent’s nightmare: Losing your child because they wander off while playing. I remember when I had my own epiphany…