Web/Tech

  • Will “Things” Use the Internet Better than People Do?

    The terms "Internet
    of Things    " and "System of Systems" are concepts that help to explain a great deal about what
    is happening, now, where the digital world meets the physical and
    intellectual.

    In the video below, from IBM, you get a glimpse of it …

    Imagine if your alarm clock talked to your calendar and knows you
    need to catch the
    ferry in 1-1/2 hours to get to work, so it wakes you up. But, a half hour before it wakes you, it turned on the heater in your bathroom; and other sensors started your morning coffee and de-iced
    the windshield in your car.

    Here are some excerpts from the film:

    “Over the past century, but accelerating over the past
    couple of decades, we have seen the emergence of a kind of global data
    field. The planet itself – natural systems, human systems, and physical
    objects – have always generated an enormous amount of data, but we
    didn’t used to be able to hear it, to see it, or to capture it. Now we can
    because all of this stuff is now instrumented. And it’s all
    interconnected, so now we can actually have access to it. So, in
    effect, the planet has grown a central nervous system.

    Look at that complex set of relationships among all of these complex
    systems    . If we can actually begin to see the patterns in the data, then
    we have a much better chance of getting our arms around this. That’s
    where societies become more efficient, that’s where more innovation is
    sparked.

    When we talk about a smarter planet, you can say that it has two
    dimensions. One is to be more efficient, less destructive, and to
    connect different aspects of life which do affect each other in more
    conscious, deliberate and intelligent ways. But the other is also
    to generate fundamentally new insights, new activity, and new forms of
    social relations. So you could look at the planet as an information,
    creation and transmission system    , and the universe was hearing its
    information but we weren’t. But increasingly now we can, early days,
    baby steps days, but we can actually begin to hear the planet talking to
    us.”

    This framework applies to many other things (for example, trading and markets).  Expect to hear more about this type of insight and automation.

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  • Finding Wisdom in Mountains of Data

    In this video, Gary Flake demos Pivot, a new way to browse and arrange massive amounts of images and data online. Built on breakthrough Seadragon technology, it enables spectacular zooms in and out of web databases, and the discovery of patterns and links invisible in standard web browsing.

    The big idea that this video demonstrates so well is that the whole of the data in which we consume is greater that the sum of the parts. And, instead of inducing information overload, new tools enable us to use information so that patterns pop and we can see trends that would otherwise be invisible.

    If we can do that, then, instead of being trapped in data, we might
    actually extract information. And, instead of dealing just with
    information, we can tease out knowledge. And if we get the knowledge,
    then maybe even there's wisdom to be found.

    Click here to view the transcript.

    This tool, and others like it, will have massive impact on businesses
    and the scale of projects they undertake.

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    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

  • Finding Wisdom in Mountains of Data

    In this video, Gary Flake demos Pivot, a new way to browse and arrange massive amounts of images and data online. Built on breakthrough Seadragon technology, it enables spectacular zooms in and out of web databases, and the discovery of patterns and links invisible in standard web browsing.

    The big idea that this video demonstrates so well is that the whole of the data in which we consume is greater that the sum of the parts. And, instead of inducing information overload, new tools enable us to use information so that patterns pop and we can see trends that would otherwise be invisible.

    If we can do that, then, instead of being trapped in data, we might
    actually extract information. And, instead of dealing just with
    information, we can tease out knowledge. And if we get the knowledge,
    then maybe even there's wisdom to be found.

    Click here to view the transcript.

    This tool, and others like it, will have massive impact on businesses
    and the scale of projects they undertake.

    Related articles by Zemanta
    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

  • Why Cloud Computing Irks Larry Ellison, But Benefits You.

    The network is becoming the computer.

    Here is a short video that puts "Cloud Computing" in perspective.  In it, Ellison jokes that someone decided to change the word "Internet" to
    "Cloud" because it was a lot easier than innovation.


    Microsoft is spending a lot of time and money to make sure it does better gaining an early lead and monetizing this type of "Internet" service.  Their cloud computing platform is called Azure.

    Amazon also has a cloud offering worth a look. 

    Why Should You Care?

    Basically, you can “rent” a current version Windows Server for as little as 12 cents per hour, and only pay for the hours you need it each month. That’s $12 bucks to use 100 servers for an hour. You also pay for data transfer and storage, but that is negligible. The nice thing is that you can fire up an army of servers to run a batch process … then stop paying when they complete their work.

    You can get access even cheaper under a program where you bid on unused capacity within the cloud at any given time (Spot pricing). 

    I still have reservations about using cloud computing for many daily business applications. However, for “crunch on demand” processes … this model makes much more sense that investing in piles of hardware that all too soon becomes obsolete.

    Most of the data from this post comes from Tim McDonald, the president of Infassure, a technology consulting and out-sourcing company in the Dallas area.  They've been a big help to us on this, and many other matters.

  • Why Cloud Computing Irks Larry Ellison, But Benefits You.

    The network is becoming the computer.

    Here is a short video that puts "Cloud Computing" in perspective.  In it, Ellison jokes that someone decided to change the word "Internet" to
    "Cloud" because it was a lot easier than innovation.


    Microsoft is spending a lot of time and money to make sure it does better gaining an early lead and monetizing this type of "Internet" service.  Their cloud computing platform is called Azure.

    Amazon also has a cloud offering worth a look. 

    Why Should You Care?

    Basically, you can “rent” a current version Windows Server for as little as 12 cents per hour, and only pay for the hours you need it each month. That’s $12 bucks to use 100 servers for an hour. You also pay for data transfer and storage, but that is negligible. The nice thing is that you can fire up an army of servers to run a batch process … then stop paying when they complete their work.

    You can get access even cheaper under a program where you bid on unused capacity within the cloud at any given time (Spot pricing). 

    I still have reservations about using cloud computing for many daily business applications. However, for “crunch on demand” processes … this model makes much more sense that investing in piles of hardware that all too soon becomes obsolete.

    Most of the data from this post comes from Tim McDonald, the president of Infassure, a technology consulting and out-sourcing company in the Dallas area.  They've been a big help to us on this, and many other matters.

  • Why You Might Want an iPad

    Here is Apple's launch video.  They do know how to innovate and market, don't they?

    Yes, it is stuff that does the stuff their other stuff does.  Yet, somehow it is generating great Buzz.

    Are you planning to buy one?  I'm planning to resist … for now.

  • Why You Might Want an iPad

    Here is Apple's launch video.  They do know how to innovate and market, don't they?

    Yes, it is stuff that does the stuff their other stuff does.  Yet, somehow it is generating great Buzz.

    Are you planning to buy one?  I'm planning to resist … for now.

  • Virtual PCs

    Some technology is innovative and impressive, but doesn't serve a business need.  For example, you keep hearing about Cloud Computing. Yet, how likely is it that you're going to
    allow your business to put a bunch of your proprietary data out on the net
    anytime soon?

    I'm not saying bad things about clouds, I'm just saying that there are a number of other recent advances that are interesting and perhaps more relevant.  Some of these advances promise to save time and money while
    making the computer environment safer and more robust.  An example is the class of solutions that take advantage of shared resources (like database clustering and virtualizing
    servers and desktops).

    100124 VMware Logo For us, one of the biggest changes in information technology, recently, has been the increasing use of virtualization.

    What is Virtualization?

    Several years ago, I needed to purchase a big and powerful computer to run certain in-depth tests. Yet, only a small percent of the tests we run require a machine that big. Some of our other testing took a long time, but didn't require many of the computer's resources. In both cases, we were dramatically under-using the machine a majority of the time.

    With virtualization, you can take a big powerful machine and divide it into smaller less powerful machines when you need to. 

    That means you can use all of the machine's capacity for one purpose some of the time. While other times, you can load a configuration optimized for a different type of test, which lets you create more virtual machines.

    So, if you are running a test that might take one computer 24 hours to run (but didn't use much of the computer's processing power), you could use virtualization to split the computer into four virtual computers.  The result is that it might only take you six or seven hours to complete the same task.

    That is a simple example, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what is possible.

    There are two main players in this space, Microsoft and VMware.

    Virtual PCs Move to the Desktop.100124 Virtual PC Images

    That same technology has moved to the desktop.

    For example, Windows 7 comes with Microsoft's Virtual PC. This makes it easy for you to create a clone of the computer (running inside your computer) but that doesn't affect the primary operating system.

    You can use a different operating system in the Virtual PC. So, even
    though you might use Windows 7, you could setup the Virtual PC to run
    with Windows XP or even Linux (for compatibility or testing reasons).

    Another use of a Virtual PC is as a "sandbox" that lets you install and try software that you wouldn't otherwise try on your main computer.

    For example, Microsoft just came-out with a beta version of its Office 2010 product.  I asked some of our IT staff if I should install it on my PC to try.  When they stopped laughing at me, the answer was "absolutely not", because it might hang, damage something or create the need to re-install the computer.  A Virtual PC, however, is a great place to try something like that without risking your primary work environment.

    Give it a try.

    Resources:

  • Virtual PCs

    Some technology is innovative and impressive, but doesn't serve a business need.  For example, you keep hearing about Cloud Computing. Yet, how likely is it that you're going to
    allow your business to put a bunch of your proprietary data out on the net
    anytime soon?

    I'm not saying bad things about clouds, I'm just saying that there are a number of other recent advances that are interesting and perhaps more relevant.  Some of these advances promise to save time and money while
    making the computer environment safer and more robust.  An example is the class of solutions that take advantage of shared resources (like database clustering and virtualizing
    servers and desktops).

    100124 VMware Logo For us, one of the biggest changes in information technology, recently, has been the increasing use of virtualization.

    What is Virtualization?

    Several years ago, I needed to purchase a big and powerful computer to run certain in-depth tests. Yet, only a small percent of the tests we run require a machine that big. Some of our other testing took a long time, but didn't require many of the computer's resources. In both cases, we were dramatically under-using the machine a majority of the time.

    With virtualization, you can take a big powerful machine and divide it into smaller less powerful machines when you need to. 

    That means you can use all of the machine's capacity for one purpose some of the time. While other times, you can load a configuration optimized for a different type of test, which lets you create more virtual machines.

    So, if you are running a test that might take one computer 24 hours to run (but didn't use much of the computer's processing power), you could use virtualization to split the computer into four virtual computers.  The result is that it might only take you six or seven hours to complete the same task.

    That is a simple example, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what is possible.

    There are two main players in this space, Microsoft and VMware.

    Virtual PCs Move to the Desktop.100124 Virtual PC Images

    That same technology has moved to the desktop.

    For example, Windows 7 comes with Microsoft's Virtual PC. This makes it easy for you to create a clone of the computer (running inside your computer) but that doesn't affect the primary operating system.

    You can use a different operating system in the Virtual PC. So, even
    though you might use Windows 7, you could setup the Virtual PC to run
    with Windows XP or even Linux (for compatibility or testing reasons).

    Another use of a Virtual PC is as a "sandbox" that lets you install and try software that you wouldn't otherwise try on your main computer.

    For example, Microsoft just came-out with a beta version of its Office 2010 product.  I asked some of our IT staff if I should install it on my PC to try.  When they stopped laughing at me, the answer was "absolutely not", because it might hang, damage something or create the need to re-install the computer.  A Virtual PC, however, is a great place to try something like that without risking your primary work environment.

    Give it a try.

    Resources:

  • Waving Goodbye to Last Year

    As you start making progress on your New Year's Resolutions and 2010, I thought I'd share these two videos to put last year in perspective and chronicle some of its happenings.

    One of the new technologies to generate a buzz last year was Google Wave. Even if you don't understand what it can do, you can appreciate how it's used here.

    Finally, JibJab brings a little humor its retrospective.

    Best Wishes and Good Luck in 2010.