Bahlmann.us

Who Would Steal a Garbage Can?

intoit — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:36:39 +0000

Small town safety not necessarily applies to petty theft in Waverly, Iowa

After last weekâ€™s snow storm came and went, I found my garage door frozen shut. So, rather than digging it out, I elected to place this weekâ€™s empty garbage can (a newer Rubbermaid dark green can with wheels) outside the door and wait for either some warm weather or the weekend before I return the can to its normal resting spot. However in spite of this weekendâ€™s warm weather I was unable to return the garbage can to my garage â€“ not because I couldnâ€™t now get the door open but rather because it is now missing. Someone decided it was better to walk across my back yard and steal my garbage can rather than go buy their own.

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Free Ad Supported Television vs Paid no-ad Television

intoit — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:41:17 +0000

One of the biggestÂ connondurums of subscription based television service business involves the question, “What is the value of the content with or without advertising?” Given the fact that consumers are increasingly given a choice of two or more subscription based television services, at what point will eyeballs be more important than basic subscriber numbers?
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Remote Disk Imaging - OS Disk Isolation

intoit — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:22:36 +0000

As the risks of running a compromised personal computer (PC)Â becomes increasingly more expensive to individual computer users (from an identity management and administrative perspective), the day is fast approaching where every computer will come standard with not one, but two hard drives. One drive for the operating systemÂ (OS), and yet another for customer applications and data. (more…)

Sharing the wealth of future broadband services

intoit — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:51:04 +0000

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how that sellingÂ broadband services is big business. But the landscape of selling broadband services in the future will look vastly different than it does currently or even in the past. While the use of standards has ignited broadband services growth, it has also fueled the success of patent pools as well as the business of inventing or buying patents that read on these standards or potential future standards. (more…)

Insurance Industry - Missed sales opportunity

intoit — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 22:56:18 +0000

An unbelievable story about an attempt to obtain insuranceÂ and the resulting botched attempts by multiple premiere insurance companies to correct the matter. Our resultingÂ advice to those seeking life insurance to help you avoid fraud and get the greatest value for your hard working dollar. (more…)

Big City “Busy”

intoit — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:51:23 +0000

People in the big city are always “busy”. The city is a big place and there is lots to do, so what does it mean when people speak so much of being busy? Do they have multiple careers (a day and night job), are they completely remodeling their living space, do they have one or more kids who are involved with multiple extra curricular activities, or do they only have one job but are so junior they need to work 70 hour weeks. Would you be surprised if someone told you that a large majority of these “busy people” are single, have only one day job, and live in an apartment. (more…)

IPTV Lull Foreseen in Coming 18 Months

intoit — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:40:06 +0000

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) has been on a media blitz of late. It is the “current buzz”Â within the video as well as networking space and why not with projected 36 million subscribers by year 2009 (says MRG). Only with all these deployments of video services, can they all make money? (more…)

Internet - Creating a virutal PC

intoit — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:44:34 +0000

It has been said that the Internet is becoming tomorrow’s Personal Computer (PC) operating system and in so doing allow individuals to maintain a variety of different means of accessing their virtual PC. Taking a stab at a support argument for the virtual PC while posing some questions about user data which will become a thorny issue well into the future. (more…)

US Government Leads The World In Use of Renewable Energy

intoit — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 11:32:32 +0000

One could easily say that the US Government is one of the most innovative nations in the world when it comes to fostering new technology and creating uses for it. The same organization that brought you a man landing on the moon, the Internet, and geo-satellites (there are many other examples) doesn’t have to prove to anyone what it can do to make truly amazing things happen. Unfortunately, the list of government funded innovationsÂ by its employees and government funded researchers are often over shadowed by policy makers who have to make the really tough choices - those that impact peoples lives. (more…)

What do you do in Iowa? - Answer: Nothing?

intoit — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 01:08:45 +0000

We vacationed to Iowa recently to visit family, friends, and relatives. Leaving the confines of the big city and trading it all in for a week long stay out in the country. Our friends questioned us before we left, “Why are you vacationing in Iowa?” as if to say, “What does one do there?” The puzzled looks told us no matter what reason we could possibly give would not provide the basis for such an investment, so to satisfy their curiosity as accurately as possible we just reply, “The object of going to IowaÂ is to do as little as possible - in other words, nothing.” (more…)

Passive Optical Network Gateway - PONG

intoit — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:35:50 +0000

AsÂ building super highways into neighborhoods mutates into extending themÂ into individual homes, fiber, namely passive optical networking (PON), is becoming the technology of choice. However, the means of terminating PON as well as its proper transformation of signals carried over PON into the various forms of telecommunications wiring found within the home (coax, twisted pair, etc.) represents an expensive and time consuming obstacle for today’s network operator installations. Especially since most home wiring creates a traffic jam for the much higher capacity fiber hanging on the side of the home. (more…)

Finding a needle in a haystack - Search Engine’s Greatest Challenge

intoit — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 03:54:25 +0000

Google and even Yahoo are becoming increasingly blunt instruments in the search business to the point where finding a needle in a haystack is nearly impossible. The “pure” search engines of old which arguably did a much better job are becoming riddled and encumbered with business rules, processes, and the need for additional adsÂ that taint results based on a multitude of complex variables -Â all of which have nothing to do with the relevant content found in the results but have everything to do with the order in which the results are displayed. (more…)

Finding High Tech Talent - What’s Missing and NOT Matching?

intoit — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 01:46:59 +0000

Finding technical talent is big business.Â Monster World Wide (MNST), best known for its Monster.com service has a market cap of $5.9 billion and yearly revenues of $1.1 billion. CareerBuilder, who was 1/5 the size of Monster in 2002, recently overtook Monster in quarterly revenue. There are also thousands of executive search firms, the top 10 of these search firms post yearly revenues (in 2006) between $63.7 million and $552.9 million. So, the top 2 Internet job sites along with the top 10 executive search firmsÂ representÂ $4.9 billion in yearly revenue - excluding the advertising money raked in by these websites. While revenues continue to sore, find out what is increasingly becoming a obstacle in this business. (more…)

National Video Franchise [check], Whats Next for Telecom and Video?

intoit — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 16:07:38 +0000

If there is one thing that telephone companies have done successfully over their history it has been their ability to lobby. Take the most recent squabble over these local video franchises which provide a kind of right of passage to offer video services to communities.Â Over the past year telecom has flexed its political lobbying muscle and has definitely got the ball rolling. While not achieving the coveted national franchise,Â the next best thing was accomplished - a victory in state wide video franchises. The question is, what is next for telecom and video? (more…)

The Maid Who Really Cleaned Up

intoit — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:14:47 +0000

Having a maid can have a status symbol feel to it. In a job negotiation with a past employeerÂ there was going to be a corporate apartment included in the agreement as well asÂ a maid serviceÂ because the apartment was going to be occasionally shared with out of town employees who were visiting the company’s headquarters. The maid service was pretty basic, once a month full cleaning. Having never had a maid before, this was a completely new experience for me. Especially that first time coming home to the prestinely cleaned apartment. But this thrill was short lived. (more…)

Friends Never Forgotten â€“ A living memory of Kevin

intoit — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 20:35:16 +0000

My first introduction of Kevin came in preschool. We were the oldest kids in the class, nearly a year older than the youngest and for the most part 6 or more months older than the balance of the class. We prided ourselves on building large castles out of cardboard brick blocks with walls taller than we were. Other kids in the class all wanted to come into our castle but every time someone squeezed through the doorway undoubtedly it lead to the crashing down of the blocks and one of the classmates getting hurt. (more…)

Armed Robbery - The one that got away

intoit — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 23:37:59 +0000

Working at a gas stationÂ in a large city exposes you to a wide variety of people. Some people you see frequent enough to know their cigarette brand before they need to remind you, some are so friendly that they hang around for hours because they you are like their bar tender (locked behind a counter with nothing better to do), and there are others whom you have never seen before who you can only wish you had never met. This is a true story of a robbery that took place and lessons learned from this experience. (more…)

Bigfoot Scare â€“ How to twist a childhood curiosity

intoit — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 22:07:09 +0000

If you have read about Bigfoot, or what the Indians call Sasquatch, the older you get the less likely you would believe in it. However, if you read about such a creature with childhood curiosity such readings (especially if there is a remote chance it could be true) brings about a very strong conviction. This is a story of how just such a curiosity could be twisted by a seemingly â€œharmless prankâ€. (more…)

Who is winning the market for IPTV chipsets?

intoit — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 03:02:18 +0000

Research completed on which IPTV Set Top Boxes (STB)s use various IPTV chipsets has uncovered evidence that the race is much closer than what some of the more vocal chipset vendors in this space have claimed. After researching more than 60 different IPTV Set Top Box (STB) manufacturers and over 15 different chipset vendors, Focus Enhancements, NXP Semiconductors, Sigma Designs, ST Microelectronics, and Texas Instruments round out the top 5. (more…)

Jury Duty - What to Expect

intoit — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 02:23:01 +0000

Having never lived anyplace long enough to be selected, my luck finally ran out this spring so rather than call the day a total loss here is an interesting story about what you can expect when they find you! Jury duty is what everyone dreads having to do. It could be a just one shortÂ day of your life or several weeks depending on your luck or situation. ThisÂ is forÂ those of you who get that slip in the mail and have no way of excusing yourself from going. (more…)