That was Then... This is Now

Terminator Vision

2011-12-19T20:36:00.001-08:00

Released in 1991, the movie "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" used many special effects that were considered very advanced at the time. One of them was the Terminator's vision system. If Google has its way, we will soon be able to walk around with “Terminator” style glasses that will overlay information on location and search preferences. Researchers are working on heads-up displays integrated into ordinary glasses tied directly to Google’s cloud-based services so that users won’t need a smartphone or other device to access the Internet.

Richard DeVaul who previously worked for Apple was hired by Google in June. DeVaul’s PhD dissertation “The Memory Glasses,” was on personal heads up displays. According to his LinkedIn profile, DeVaul now works as a “rapid evaluator” at Google. Between 2004 and 2010, DeVaul was founder and president of AWare Technologies. And between 1997 and 2003, DeVaul worked as a research assistant at MIT’s Media Lab.

The following video of scenes from "Terminator 2" illustrate how the glasses might work:

Tablets to Replace PC's?

2011-09-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

According to an article in Baseline, a recent survey from Staples Advantage, shows that a clear majority of tablet users believe that tablets will end up replacing their more traditional machines. Sales of the slim computers are expected to soar from 55 million this year to more than 208 million in 2014. “Tablets make it easy for employees to keep information with them and utilize business apps, no matter where they go,” says Ed Ludwigson, vice president and general manager for Staples Technology Solutions. “For employers, the benefit is having a more productive workforce that’s always connected to what’s happening at the office.”

I don't think so. Although I love my iPad for meetings and other "on the go" activities, I just don't see tablets replacing my powerful desktop, with full keyboard and large HDTV screen for real work (or play) anytime soon.

For more about the survey, click here.

7 Rules for Managing Internet Discussions

2011-08-01T06:51:00.000-07:00

The free and open discussion that the Internet provides is awesome. Sadly there are those who abuse the privilege of being able to participate in an on-line discussion. Internet bullying, hate speech, and incorrect information are all encouraged by unlimited anonymous posting. If you run a discussion forum don’t forget that you privately own it and control it—and to those that read it, it represents your company or organization. You have a right and a responsibility to moderate it. And keep it appropriate for your readers, customers, or fans. Here are seven guidelines to help you manage:

1. Eliminate anonymous posting. Everyone must identify who they are somehow. Require users to register with a valid email address. If someone is sharing “expert” advice—require them to provide references.

2. Never allow un-moderated comments. Remember the days of “letters to the editor”? Used to be that someone had to prepare a thoughtful response, respectfully submit it, and also sign their name to it.

3. If necessary, turn OFF the comment feature and require readers to submit comments through email. This way you have the most control. Make it clear that you have the right to edit comments from users.

4. When something offensive does get posted—delete it immediately. Issue a warning or ban the user right away. Don’t ever let this go. Remember you have a responsibility to your readers and to those who took the time to respond thoughtfully.

5. Off-topic posts that somehow slip through should be deleted immediately. They don’t add anything and can sometimes take the discussion in a direction you may not want.

6. Clear any “spam” messages right away. These make it look like you don’t care about keeping things in order.

7. Any personal attacks on other users, inappropriate language, racial slurs, or something that demeans another user should never see the light of day. Internet bullying and hate speech are real problems. If an offensive post does get through, get rid of it and ban the offending user. No questions asked.

The Google Effect

2011-07-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

As reported online this week in Science, psychologists are exploring how the Internet may be changing the way people handle information. The researchers say the results confirm a growing belief that people are using the Internet as a personal memory bank: the so-called “Google Effect.” The article, entitled “Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips” was published July 14. The abstract of the article follows:

“The advent of the Internet, with sophisticated algorithmic search engines, has made accessing information as easy as lifting a finger. No longer do we have to make costly efforts to find the things we want. We can "Google" the old classmate, find articles online or look up the actor who was on the tip of our tongue. The results of four studies suggest that when faced with difficult questions, people are primed to think about computers and that when people expect to have future access to information, they have lower rates of recall of the information itself and enhanced recall instead for where to access it. The Internet has become a primary form of external or transactive memory, where information is stored collectively outside ourselves.”

U2 Summer Tour Relies on Dell Workstations

2011-06-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

The 2011 "U2 360" stage is seven stories high and weighs 54 tons. It can cover most of a major league baseball field and keeps most of the electronics directly above the stage. To ensure that each show comes off without a hitch, show producer Live Nation Entertainment which used to build all its own custom IT, has deployed off-the-shelf Dell Precision R5400 rack-mounted workstations and UltraSharp U2711 monitors for concert video control and management. Recently eWEEK had the opportunity to check out the results of a U2 show first hand; the one in this slide show was staged June 17 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif.

France Bans Mention of Facebook and Twitter

2011-06-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

Starting May 27th, radio and television stations in France will no longer be allowed to use the names of the social networking sites in their broadcasts. The reason is a 1992 law that bans promotion of business enterprises on network television programs. Any mention of “follow us on Twitter” or “visit our Facebook page,” in the eyes of the French government, represents advertising and promotion of those sites. Reporters are still allowed to mention the sites by name if the news story itself concerns one of the businesses, but referring to Facebook or Twitter in a promotional capacity will not be allowed.

There's still no word on how the law will be enforced or what the penalties will be. Follow me on f***b*** for more information…

(Source: Time NewsFeed)

Business Intelligence Through Social Networking

2011-06-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Businesses today know that information can be a genuine strategic advantage. The question then becomes how does one get information that has real value? Traditional methods, like those used in many IT departments are increasingly irrelevant in a fast paced, uncertain world. Many are “historically” based; others are often constructed around complex models that require careful and often lengthy interpretation. While you are still trying to “figure out” the data, your competition is moving ahead.

In this article from Bottom Line, Samuel Greengaard makes a case for Social Networking as a form of Business Intelligence. Social networking as defined here extends beyond LinkedIn and Twitter. For example, conventional search engines, such as Google, are remarkably good at gathering information from an existing data pool. But there's another data pool that's essentially untouched: the collective knowledge and problem solving skills of a group.

Many younger workers naturally gravitate to informal methods to solve problems in a more collaborative and iterative way. Unfortunately, most of these methods lie outside conventional corporate thinking. Business leaders should recognize that it's to their advantage to promote social networking and data collection tools and let evolution take its course.

And The Winner is... The Blackberry 9800 Torch!

2011-05-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

Last December I started shopping for a new cell phone. Although I had done my homework and was familiar with all the technical specifications my final decision wasn’t made until April after I finally had the time to play around with several examples at the local AT&T store. To be perfectly honest—there wasn’t one that I didn’t like. Considering the major “smartphones” available it would seriously be difficult to make a “bad” choice. I immediately liked the “feel” of the Blackberry and I really liked the fact that it had a slide-out keyboard. I was upgrading from an old Motorola Q9 and whenever I had used my friend’s smartphones or my wife’s iPod, I found the touch screen keyboard to be awkward and tended to make mistakes when texting but liked it for running applications. So this model seemed to offer the best of both worlds.

Unlike other Blackberry’s the 9800 did not have a “trackball” but instead a touch pad. The main reason I had avoided getting a Blackberry until now was because of the trackball. The new OS 6, the Social Networking Feed application, the 5 megapixel camera with GPS, and built in Wi-Fi support were all plusses. One reason I had gotten the Q9 was to be able to run Windows and applications such as Excel and Word. However, you will find it is almost impossible to do any real work with these applications on such a small screen. The “Sheet to Go” and “Word to Go” are more than adequate for reviewing documents and are included on the Blackberry at no extra cost. But the clincher was that the phone would cost me nothing extra as I was actually overdue for an upgrade—so it was truly a no brainer. One month later, I like it more than ever and ironically am using the touchscreen almost exclusively for texting. My wife also liked the 9800 so much that she got one of her own!

Intel's Processor Strategy Reveals Key Trends in Computing

2011-05-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

At it's annual shareholder meeting May 17, Intel revealed that it is investing a lot of time and capital into emerging markets, such as China, Japan, South America and Eastern Europe. It is also changing its focus on servers to data center equipment including networking and storage. And it's coming out with a new product line of MIC (Many Integrated Cores) processors called "Knights," that will take the multi-core concept to a new level with up to 50 cores. This slideshow from eWeek highlights the key points from the meeting. Particularly interesting were the data on emerging markets, new uses for computing, and growth in cloud computing and storage in China and the US.

2011 Billionaire's Challenge

2011-03-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

Today in Operations Management we had this semester’s "Billionaire's Challenge." This involves analyzing a production case study using Microsoft Excel's Solver "add in." Students must first set-up and solve the case then earn at least one-million dollars profit. After that they may compete to make at least $1,000,000,000.

This semester's Billionaires are:

Emily Einhaus - Winner $29.8 billion!
Dimitrios Alafogianis
Josh Reagin
Sarah Schuttler
Jacob VanDeman
Mark Williamson

Awesome! OK guys, meet me at the Bentley dealer in Zionsville after class!

For more information on this exercise, refer to my earlier post.

Manning vs. Brady

2011-02-03T13:35:00.001-08:00

Last week in my Operations Management class, we learned several different methods for forecasting. Included were moving averages, exponential smoothing, and linear trend forecasts. After completing the first round of homework problems, students were required to come up with an original application using data they collected themselves or found on the Internet.

Sarah Schuttler (whose father Robert is also a professor at Marian, and perhaps the world’s biggest Indianapolis Colts fan) decided to use a linear trend method to analyze statistics for both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. The intent was to forecast total yardage and touchdown performance and also examine the relationship between yards gained and number of touchdowns thrown as a measure of effectiveness.

As you can see, both quarterbacks have “hall of fame” stats as one would expect. Peyton Manning is clearly the winner in total production through a projected 15 year career (click to enlarge):

However when we turn our attention to the relationship between number of yards and touchdowns per season, Tom Brady is, well… the numbers don’t lie:

I had expected the two quarterbacks to be much closer on this measure with Tom Brady perhaps coming out slightly ahead. But as one can see, Brady appears to be more than twice as effective. We speculated on the reasons for this and decided to leave that discussion for football fans. While I am a diehard Colts fan and would take Manning over anyone as my starting QB, this analysis will definitely give Patriot and Brady fans something to cheer about. I thought this was a great project and I am looking forward to seeing Sarah on ESPN one day as an analyst!

Droid Pro vs. Blackberry Torch

2010-12-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

I'm in the market for a new cell phone and have narrowed it down to two choices. The Motorola Droid Pro and the Blackberry Torch. Here is a pretty good
comparison of the two. Stay tuned.

Apple Computer to Sell For $160,000

2010-11-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

One of the first computers made by Apple way back in 1976 is scheduled to be auctioned November 23. It is expected to bring bids of at least $160,000. How powerful was it? By today's standards--not very. But it helped to start a revolution in technology. Here are the specs:

"Apple-1 motherboard, number 82, printed label to reverse, with a few slightly later additions including a 6502 microprocessor, labeled R6502P R6502-11 8145, printed circuit board with 4 rows A-D and columns 1-18, three capacitors, heatsink, cassette board connector, 8K bytes of RAM, keyboard interface, firmware in PROMS, low-profile sockets on all integrated circuits, video terminal, breadboard area with slightly later connector, with later soldering, wires and electrical tape to reverse, printed to obverse Apple Computer 1 Palo Alto. Ca. Copyright 1976."

If you are interested in bidding on it you can read more here.

Updated 11/23/10: The computer reportedly sold for $210,700.

Uncovering Data Trends with Excel Charts

2010-10-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

My MIS 320 Business Decisions class just took their mid-term exams. Much of it involved your typical advanced Excel calculations, conditional logic, and forecasts. Certainly hard enough, but really pretty standard stuff.

One question however involved "making sense" of a collection of data regarding travel to and from the state of Indiana. The requirement was to create a series of charts that would interpret the data for Indiana business leaders, politicians, state and local governments, and average citizens. On the surface, this appeared simple--after all how hard could graphs be? The challenge was that the data was a “mess” and students had to dig deep in order to uncover useful information. They also were encouraged to experiment with color, 3-D effects, and styles. Some of the more interesting graphs are shown here...

Eric Sheppard used a "Pie within a Pie Chart" to breakout the "Other" category regarding means of trasportation in Indiana. This is a great technique to use when you have a category like "other" that is made up of several very small categories. I never would have thought that some people still take the train!

Jared McGinn created this effective "3-D Area Chart" to compare visitors to and from the state. Not surprisingly Indiana gets a lot of traffic from the "Five State Region." Notice that there are a lot more people visiting Florida from Indiana than people from Florida visiting Indiana!

Sean Rodgers used a "3-D Area Chart" where one might otherwise have use a more traditional "bar chart." And with good results. The "3-D" effect makes it easy to make a direct comparison between Indiana Residents and Visitors while the "Area" type of chart is more visually pleasing than square "bars."

Ricky Parrish created two traditional "Column Charts" to compare Indiana travel statistics with the rest of the country. The hardest part was in "extracting" the data from the worksheet. Since it wasn't arranged as neatly as in a textbook exercise, Ricky had to be very careful in defining the appropriate ranges for the charts.

Finally, Thomas Cruz created this interesting "Stacked Cylinder Chart" that compares miles traveled by Indiana residents to that of visitors. Similar to a stacked bar chart, the 3-D cylinders give a more pleasing visual effect. Everything is also clearly labeled--something that is often easy to overlook!

Now Your Dog Can Tweet

2010-10-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Mattel has developed a tag that goes on your dog's collar that allows them to send one of 200 predefined "tweets" to a Twitter page depending on the animal's activity level. So far Mattel has not develped one for cats. Yet.

Cyber Storm III

2010-09-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

Across the U.S. and around the world this week, "Cyber Storm III" a global cybersecurity exercise, designed to test the security of the Internet as well as the people charged with protecting it, is underway through October 1st.

This is the third time that the Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with other federal agencies, is conducting this exercise. Previous Cyber Storm exercises were conducted in 2006, and again in 2008. For the first time, DHS will manage its response to Cyber Storm III from its new National Cybersecurity and Communications and Integration Center.

Exoskeleton Suit 2.0

2010-09-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

Raytheon has updated the exoskeleton suit that they designed for the military to a newer version that is lighter, more agile and uses less power. Wearers of the suit can easily lift over 200 pounds hundreds of times, punch through several inches of wood, and have the agility to fight, climb stairs, or kick a soccer ball. Read more about the "Iron Man" suit here.

Run Your Home on an iPad

2010-09-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

Now you can monitor your home energy use with an app that connects your home's electric grid to an iPad. You can turn off lights, air or appliances when they're not in use, or even program them to turn on and off at certain times of day.

According to Jim Gist, a vice president at Control4, you can even monitor and ovveride changes that others make when you re not home. "If your teenage kids are home alone and they turn down the air to 62 degrees, your iPad or iPhone will alert you and you can change it," he said.

If you already have an iPad, you can download the app from iTunes for free, although you will have to pay a one-time licensing fee of $99.

However, you should be able to make that back in energy savings. According to Gist, the app can cut lighting costs 10% to 30% and air conditioning costs 20% to 40%.

See the other green ideas at CNN Money.com.

Pac Man for President in 2012

2010-08-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Might Pac Man have a shot at the presidency? According to researchers Alex Halderman of the University of Michigan and Ariel Feldman of Princeton University it might be possible. The two reprogrammed one such system, the Sequoia AVC Edge, to play Pac-Man. The researchers were able to load the software into the machine without breaking the tamperproof seals. The project, presented at the recent 2010 Electronic Voting Technology Workshop, is another strike against electronic voting systems.

"We could have reprogrammed it to steal votes, but that's been done before, and Pac-Man is more fun,"

Read the complete article at InfoWorld.

The Dislike Button and Other Facebook Scams

2010-08-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post I mentioned that I'd deactivated my Facebook account due to some innappropriate content showing up. There have been other issues as well and today I'd like to share this great article about the latest problem by Rob Pegoraro of the Washington Post.

It is a sad but true fact that the Internet makes it very easy to spread disinformation as well as outright scams. Another reason to examine your own use of the Internet.

No Cell Phone?

2010-08-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I asked if anyone has ever tried to live without the Internet or Cell phones. Apparently some have. Here is an article from Bloomberg Business Week on executives who refuse to carry a cell phone. Interesting.

Super Train Will Go 620 MPH

2010-08-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

Chinese researchers are currently developing a train that will run at speeds up to 620 miles per hour--about twice as fast as the current record set by a Japanese train in 2003. The train will run on magnetic levitation tracks built into vacuum tubes underground and will average almost 400 miles per hour. Researchers say the trains could be ready to go in ten years.

Could the United States develop something similar even though the cost of the technology is seemingly overwhelming? Estimates are approximately $2.95 million for each kilometer of track. What I would like to know is how much energy these trains would save. "Maglev" is being promoted as a "green" technology--what would the long-term cost savings be? Read more about it at inhabitat.com.

You Used Your Smartphone Where?

2010-08-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Many workers today feel that they must take their smart phones and mobile devices everywhere according to a recent survey from Careerbuilder. These professionals answer calls or check in with the office while attending church and even while at their children's afterschool activities. Some will even talk and text away while lying in bed, and while in the bathroom. On a date? Too bad. Romantic moments spent staring deeply into the eyes of a potential significant other are now interrupted by the inevitable, "I need to take this call." In some cases, cell phone use can be dangerous. Using mobile devices while driving is common for many workers these days--and the cause of many accidents. This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of Careerbuilder. More than 5,200 employees took part.

Read the complete article and slideshow here.

Stalker in a Box?

2010-07-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

RFID and GPS technologies can provide many benefits to business, especially in the areas of inventory management, logistics, and marketing. Many consumers, however feel threatened by the potential intrusion and loss of privacy. Typically it is quite easy to discard the "tag" if one can find it and if it does not have GPS capability it cannot "follow you home." However a promotion for laundry detergent by a Brazilian company may go to far. Here are some outtakes from the Advertising Age article:

Starting next week, consumers who buy one of the GPS-implanted detergent boxes will be surprised at home, given a pocket video camera as a prize and invited to bring their families to enjoy a day of Unilever-sponsored outdoor fun.

Of course, Brazil has a high crime rate, and not everyone is going to open the door to strangers who claim to have been sent by her detergent brand to offer a free video camera. Bullet has thought of that. If the team tracks a consumer to her home but she won't let them in, they can remotely activate a buzzer in the detergent box so that it starts beeping. And if the team takes too long to arrive, and the consumer has already opened the box to see if she's a winner or just do laundry, she'll find, along with the GPS device and less detergent than expected, a note explaining the promotion and a phone number to call.

In a big web component, the site experimentealgonovo.com.br (Portuguese for "try something new") goes live in August, and will include a map showing roughly where the winners live, pictures of each winner and footage of the Bullet-Omo teams hunting down the GPS-enabled detergent boxes, knocking on doors and surprising consumers.

While I appreciate the innovation behind this, I'm not sure that I'd want where I live shown on a map or a "beeping" box of detergent on my shelf. It will be interesting to follow this campaign as it unfolds.

10 Best Beach Cameras

2010-07-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

PC Magazine has a feature on the 10 Best Beach Cameras. If you are going on vacation, any of these would make a good travel companion. All of the models here can capture still images and video in up to 10 feet of water and are very rugged. Some of them can go as deep as 33 feet below so you can even go scuba diving with them.

One model even records full 1080p HD video in up to 10 feet of water. You can then upload your footage to YouTube or Facebook without having to convert it. I want it.