About Jon Westfall

Jonathan E. Westfall, PhD, born 1982, is a researcher and technologist working in New York City at Columbia Business School, who also writes for the Thoughts Media Network. His current research focuses on the variables individuals use when making economic and public policy decisions, specifically strength of handedness, a variable correlated with a number of decision-making and cognitive psychology tasks and measures. Dr. Westfall also conducts research on consumer decision making, and applications to both marketing and public policy. His current appointment is as the Associate Director for Research and Technology at the Center for Decision Sciences, a center within Columbia Business School at Columbia University in New York City.

In addition to his research, Dr. Westfall also maintains an active career in information technology, where he has worked as a consultant since 1997, founding his own firm, Bug Jr. Systems. As a consultant he has developed custom software solutions (including native Windows 32 applications, Windows .NET applications, ASP, ASP.NET, and PHP web applications), and served as a senior network and systems architect and administrator (on both Windows and Unix networks, and hybrids). Dr. Westfall has also been recognized as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) since 2008.

Dr. Westfall is married to Karey Alyson Himmel Westfall, and both are natives to the midwestern United States. They live north of New York City.

Detailed Chronlogical Biography

1997: Founded Bug Jr. Systems (As Bug Jr. Software), recruiting a team of technology enthusiasts and professionals to work on web development projects and custom Win32 software development in Borland Delphi. Released a number of shareware applications, and began working on network design and administration projects.

2001: Certified as a MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional), MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer), and CompTIA A+ Certified technician. Began teaching A+ Certification courses at The University of Akron, while studying for a bachelors degree in psychology.

2003: Continued teaching A+ Certification, as well as a new two course sequence, Computer Repair & Maintenance, a course designed for non-technical learners focusing on operation and repair of a computer.

2004: Graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Akron (UA), as a presidential and university honors scholar. Applied and accepted to the experimental psychology MA-PhD program at The University of Toledo (UT).

2005: Teaching interests gradually shift from Technology (at UA) to Psychology (at UT). Taught Principles of Psychology discussion and lecture, and TA’ed for Cognitive Psychology. Also appointed a Contributing Editor for Pocket PC Thoughts, a Thoughts Media network website.

2007: Awarded a Masters of Arts in Psychology, conducting research on individual differences and decision making. Taught Research Methods in Psychology, Principles of Psychology, and Cognitive Psychology.

2008: Recognized as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) – Windows Mobile Devices.

2009: Awarded Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD), offered and accepted a postdoctoral position at Columbia University, with the Center for Decision Sciences.

“Join us for the Launch of Visual Studio 2010 – and get in-depth sessions from the best speakers in the industry! On April 12, Microsoft will launch Visual Studio 2010, and by joining us at the Microsoft Visual Studio Conference & Expo, you will not only experience the launch alongside the Visual Studio team and industry legends – you’ll get three days of sessions by the best speakers in the industry on the latest and greatest technologies, such as Silverlight and .NET 4.0. The topics will range from all the new, great features in Visual Studio 2010 to Silverlight, WPF, WF, WCF, Application Lifecycle Management, .NET 4.0, ASP.NET 4.0 AJAX, ASP.NET MVC and much more! And remember: If you sign up for Microsoft Visual Studio Conference & Expo, you’ll automatically get access to both the ASP.NET and Silverlight and the SQL Conference and Expo! That’s a Visual Studio launch and three conferences for the price of one!”

Thoughts Readers get a discount of $50 on registration for the Visual Studio 2010 Launch, the ASP.NET, AJAX, & Silverlight Conference, and the SQL Server Conference when they use the discount code WESTF during registration! If you’re heading out to the launch, be sure to save some cash (Or use that extra $50 on some Vegas-style entertainment!).

This was originally posted at Windows Phone Thoughts, check out the the source for discussion.

My wife can be described by many adjectives, like Awesome, loving, sweet, and kind. But fast, speedy, or quick – Sorry, those aren’t in the list!

Most Twitter Spammers who follow me are deleted quickly. The remaining amuse me. From breastacular profile pics to shakey sales pitches…

“The good news is that this isn’t the 400th article this month talking about a potential Sprint/T-Mobile merger. The better news is that this rumor has a stronger chance of coming true than a Sprint/T-Mobile merger. One of my trusty ninjas hit me up tonight with information claiming that a Windows Mobile 6.5 update will see the light of day for the TouchPro2 and Dash 3G beginning January 6th, 2010″

It’s a rumor reported by TMoNews, to be sure, however hopefully it’s somewhat accurate. I mean when else will T-Mo finally get around to popping out the 6.5 updates for these two phones anyway? (Actually, if past track record is any indication, January 6th 2011 is probably just as likely). Hopefully though within a month us loyal T-mo users will have an official 6.5 upgrade – you know, the OS that was released on October 6 — for those devices released in early and mid summer!

This was originally posted at Windows Phone Thoughts, check out the the source for discussion.

“VMware has flagged smartphones as the next platform in the evolution of virtualisation, but at least one major competitor, Microsoft, says that it sees no demand for the technology. Speaking to Computerworld, Srinivas Krishnamurti, VMware’s head of mobile phone virtualisation said the company’s vision for virtualisation on smartphones went beyond the basic dual-boot prototypes currently in development to one that ran both a private and work operating system and profile at the same time.”

While intriguing, I’m somewhat skeptical that something like this would ever be practical in production. Sure in a test situation, network administrators could configure devices to run Windows Mobile alongside Android alongside Symbian, but what carrier is going to greenlight that arrangement? Even though the iPhone-era has seen carriers lighten up their grasp on “customizations” (a.k.a. revenue generating crapware), I doubt any carrier would be thrilled to think of a device they sold (and perhaps subsidized) running multiple operating systems!

This was originally posted at Windows Phone Thoughts, check out the the source for discussion.

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