Filed in Cloud computing | Government | International Politics | Politics
I’m for protecting IP rights when it is done right. However, allowing everyone to be cast offline because one person is in violation of infringement is far too high a price to pay. Especially, when those seeking protection have ample means to stop offenders with current policy.
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
Filed in Management
Ilya Pozin recently sat down with Tony Wong, a project management blackbelt and came up with these 7 Things Highly Productive People Do.
Here are his tips for staying productive:
Filed in Sustainability
London’s 2012 Olympic committee are taking heat on Dow’s sponsorship of the games. The committee says Dow came up with the best sustainable proposal to wrap the stadium “by quite a distance”.
At issue is the world’s worst industrial accident, the 1984 Union Carbide tragedy in India, which left an estimated 15,000 dead and injured 500,000. Dow acquired Union Carbide 17 years later in 2001.
The Olympic committee is justified in selecting Dow as a sponsor as long as after 2001 Dow has done the right thing for the people of Bhopal. If they have done right, then Dow should be proud of their actions and discuss them. However, Dow spokespeople are talking about the facts of the accident, not the facts of the post-accident support for the community. They should only talk about the former after addressing the latter. It matters not that the plant was not operated by Dow in 1984. Dow decided to own the issue when they acquired the assets and liabilities of Union Carbide in 2001. The committee and Dow will continue to hear protests about this until they discuss their responsibilities toward those harmed in Bhopal.
Victims of the accident, as well as former Indian Olympians and officials, have been pressuring Olympic organizers to drop Dow as a sponsor. Less than two weeks ago, protesters in Bhopal burned an effigy of the head of the Olympic organizing committee, Sebastian Coe.
On Sunday, Coe defended Dow’s involvement.
Article source: http://asiancorrespondent.com/71744/london-2012-chief-says-he-supports-dow-sponsorship/
Filed in Cloud computing | Management | Transparency
Mike Vizard, talks with Kent Christensen of Datalink about Cloud Sprawl and what companies can do about it. Christensen’s recommendation is to start with a private cloud.
One of the issues that many IT organizations are soon going to find themselves dealing with is “cloud sprawl.” Because it’s relatively easy to set up an account with any number of cloud computing service providers, IT organizations may soon find themselves managing application workloads across many different services.
At the same time, those organizations are just as likely to have an instance of private cloud computing under development, which may be running on premise or in a third-party data center. Continue Reading
Article source: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/vizard/gaining-control-over-cloud-sprawl/?cs=49139
Filed in Responsibility
According to Calcutta News.Net, the ’5th International Conference on Entertainment Education (EE5)’ heard that video games and personalized advice through phone calls and messages are some of the unique measures proposed to spread awareness on tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The four-day conference aimed to create a fusion of education and entertainment to highlight life-threatening diseases and social issues.
The ten video games that could be downloaded on all types of mobile phones were developed by Delhi-based gaming and e-Learning company, ZMQ Software Systems, while research for the games was done by the students of Lady Irwin College here. Continue Reading
Article source: http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/201170727/ht/Video-games-to-spread-awareness-on-deadly-diseases
Filed in Creativity | Management
Leonardo’s To-Do List looks like an early draft of a GTD list.
Filed in Cloud computing | Transparency
Stating that IBM is now a services company, Warren Buffet has made his first investment in a computer manufacturer or what many may still call a technology company. Richard Waters of FT believe it is brand and a bet on the changing landscape of where computing power is located.
Warren Buffett has famously steered clear of the tech sector on the grounds that he is ill-equipped to assess the periodic disruptions that sweep through the industry. Yet with the $10.7bn bet he has just placed on IBM, he has stepped into the middle of the biggest disruption since the emergence of the PC.
The rise of cloud computing is exactly the sort of secular tech shift that has kept the Sage of Omaha on the sidelines in the past. That he has invested regardless is a testament to the fortress IBM has constructed around its business. It also represents a bet that the cloud disruption will be different, and that old names like IBM are in a position to manage this one to their advantage.
Article source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/fd27b166-106b-11e1-8298-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=50df1d0c-9e54-11df-a5a4-00144feab49a.html
Filed in Responsibility
By Maximilian Clarke
Nearly every Global Fortune 250 (G250) company now reports its corporate responsibility activity, with the UK topping the global ranking according to the KPMG International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2011.
In what KPMG believes to be the most comprehensive survey of corporate responsibility (CR) reporting ever published, data was analysed from 3,400 companies worldwide, including the G250 and the largest 100 companies across 34 countries and 15 industry sectors.
The survey found that CR reporting is now undertaken by 95 percent of the G250, and 64 percent of the largest 100 companies (N100) in each country, representing increases of 14 and 11 percent respectively since KPMG’s previous survey in 2008. Almost half (47 percent) of the G250 companies report gaining financial value from their CR initiatives.
Article source: http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/news.php?NID=10876&Title=UK+firms+top+global+corporate+responsibility+reporting+ranking
Filed in Management | Politics | Responsibility | Science | Technology | Transparency
A straight forward view of analyzing data and making your findings visual.
They didn’t mention the part about choosing only the statistics which support your position. Or the section on how to make the data look better or worse. Perhaps it would be a good idea for folks to stop doing that.
Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics.
Filed in Education | Responsibility | Technology
Melissa Jun Rowley describes how five industry giants are supporting education around the world.
To make digital more accessible, and to enable people to stay competitive in the global economy, a number of tech and media companies are working to level the online playing field all around the world. Here are five of them.
Article source: http://mashable.com/2011/11/04/tech-philanthropy-education/
Filed in Economy | Education | Politics
Voters in Colorado overwhelmingly stayed away from the polls, I mean mail boxes, this election season and those who mailed a ballot certainly were not up for tax increases. The day after Colorado’s governor included additional cuts of $160 per K-12 student in his budget request to the state legislature’s joint budget committee, voters defeated almost all district increases, along with Proposition 103, the only state-wide tax issue on any ballot in the US.
Proposition 103 was neither perfect nor a long-term solution. It was criticized by groups on both sides of the tax issue. Some said it was anti-business, while others thought it over-taxed those least able to afford it. For some it was too big, and others did not like that it lasted only five years.
Perhaps the perfect got in the way of what Senator Rollie Heath proposed as a “band-aid” to help schools through the next few years, while Colorado legislators address the structural gap in Colorado’s tax code. I ask one simple, but difficult question, “Where does that leave Colorado schools now?”
Source: Education News Colorado
After peaking in 2009-2010, a year where Colorado ranked 40th in state funding for K-12, Colorado has cut funding by 2.6% in 2010-2011 and by an additional 4.6% in 2011-2012. Additional cuts are a certainty for the 2012-2013 school year.
Fees must continue to go up. More schools will be looking at going to shorter weeks. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that far and away the largest portion of a school district’s budget goes to compensation and benefits to teachers. With dollars per student going down, at some point compensation to teachers on a per student basis must also decline.
Unless…
Unless you and I do something about it. If you believe funding for schools in Colorado is too low and you can help, then I challenge you to do so. If you supported Proposition 103, then calculate the additional taxes you would be paying and give that to the school or schools of your choice. A friend told me they were voting against 103 because they wanted to directly fund our local schools. I hope they will and suggest you do the same. Another person told me they did not like the regressive nature of Prop 103. Well, they can make it as progressive as they like. Let’s join together, support our schools, and get Colorado moving forward.
Filed in Cloud computing | Technology
According to Bruce Hoard more and more x86 workloads are returning to the big box. And with good reason. In his Mainframe Clouds Roll In article, Hoard talks about the factors that make mainframes great hardware for the cloud. From their time-sharing beginnings, mainframes were built from the ground up to perform work for different groups and purposes.
Article source: http://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2011/11/01/mainframe-clouds-roll-in.aspx
Filed in Science
Pluto’s Twin, while a neighbor, is a distant one at that. Traveling around the Sun on a more elliptical path than Pluto, Eris’ maximum distant from our home star is 14.5 billion kilometers, almost twice that of Pluto’s path.
An artist’s impression of the dwarf planet Eris.
Illustration by L. Calçada, ESO
Filed in Entertainment
Filed in Creativity
Rafi Mohammed wrote an excellent article about Netflix, pricing, customer requirements, and shareholder concerns on the HBR Blog describing The Real Reason Netflix Stock Tanked .
Netflix had many options as they looked at raising prices. Mr. Mohammed argues the one option they correctly took off the table was to increase their cost structure and not ask customers to pay for this. However, they could have structured their offerings in a way that allowed customers to opt in if they wanted the additional features versus forcing them to opt out (leave the service, which 3% have decided to do) if they do not.
If the results of a 20-60% price increase is losing 3% of your customers, the financial result of that is pretty nice. Even with Netflix taking it on the chin with their communication strategy, none of this describes why shareholders have left the stock in droves. I let you read what Mr. Mohammed has to say about that.
Filed in Cloud computing | Sustainability
(MENAFN – Jordan Times) More than 1,500 IT professionals and experts will convene in the capital next month to explore the latest innovations in cloud computing technology at the 2011 Microsoft Open Day. The two-day event, which starts November 1, provides an opportunity to showcase advanced innovations and IT business solutions and exchange views on these issues, Husni Khuffash, Microsoft Jordan country manager, told reporters yesterday. “At this year’s conference, the main focus is the private cloud, which gives companies the control to manage their IT across physical and virtual server environments,” he said. Several “unique and innovative” Jordanian projects in the field of IT will be displayed at the event, Khuffash elaborated. Explaining the importance of cloud computing, he said: “It can help cut costs. Adopting cloud computing enables companies, regardless of their size, to use the latest advanced technologies and solutions as the cloud is always up to date.” Umniah CEO Ihab Hinnawi agreed. “Cloud computing is the future. It is inevitable. Companies that do not use cloud computing will not be able to compete,” he said at the press conference. “Companies that are late in making the decision to use cloud computing will be lagging behind and that will affect their competitiveness,” Hinnawi added. Umniah’s cloud computing case study will be showcased at the open day.
Article source: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093452848&src=RSS
Filed in Economy | International Politics | Sustainability
Over the weekend, treasurer Wayne Swan said the clock was ticking for European policymakers to tackle the spectre of a sovereign debt default and avert another GFC. So far, the answer has not been sufficient.
At the Group of 20 nations (G20) finance ministers meeting in Paris, Mr Swan said the time for ‘half measures’ by European leaders to fix the stagnating eurozone was over.
‘The time for action is here,’ Mr Swan told Bloomberg Television in Paris on Saturday (Sunday morning AEDT). Continue Reading
Article source: http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=674232&vId=2780225
Filed in Cloud computing
By Andrew Milroy, Computerworld
In earlier posts, I have written about how the term, private cloud, offers little value and is arguably a term that is used by legacy IT suppliers to exploit concerns about their customers migrating computing resources to the (public) cloud. Is the private cloud simply a data centre with lipstick? In other words, is it a virtualised data centre that has many of the characteristics of a (public) cloud?
Many people in the industry believe that arguing about public and private cloud definitions offers little value and fail to focus on the huge changes taking place in the way people implement, operate and use technology.
I disagree. Continue Reading
Article source: http://www.computerworld.com.sg/tech/cloud-computing/blog-cloud-computing--why-semantics-matter/
Filed in Cloud computing
ORLANDO — In Gartner’s list of the top 10 trends in IT infrastructure and operations are multiple threats and opportunities for data center operations.
Among the threats is the exodus of baby boomers and the emergence of a younger generation that’s been less loyal to corporate employers and are more likely to move to another job.
Designing a job structure that ensures IT skills and corporate knowledge can survive the workforce transition is but one important challenge for companies, according to David Cappuccio, a Gartner analyst.
Gartner’s Top 10 list of IT infrastructure and operations trends, presented today at the research firm’s annual Gartner Symposium/ITxpo here, follows:
One : Virtualization continues to expand in the enterprise from servers to desktops. “You do not do desktop virtualization to save money, because you’re not going to,” Cappuccio said. “You are going to spend more money on your infrastructure,” in the form of larger servers, VM licenses, while also continuing to pay for desktop licenses. “But what you gain is total control of the environment.”
Two : Big data, patterns and analytics. Data will grow by 800% in five years, with 80% of it unstructured. Part of that is the trend called “the collective,” which includes data from groups and communities and social networks outside the business. “Mining the collective has become a very common thing to do, and it’s a great way to understand what your marketplace looks like,” said Cappuccio.
Article source: http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/telecommunications/gartners-top-10-it-challenges-include-exiting-baby-boomers-big-data
Filed in Responsibility
CAMDEN, N.J.-( Business Wire )-
Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) today announced that it
has entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Land Lease
Agreement (LLA) with American Capital Energy (ACE) to construct a 2.3
mega-Watt (MW) capacity PV solar power generation ground mount tracker
system on 14 acres of the company’s facility in Sacramento, Calif.,
which supplies Campbell’s soups, sauces and beverages to ten western
states and the Far East.
Article source: http://www.tradershuddle.com/20111019156219178/Press-Releases/Campbell-Plans-14-Acre-2.3-MW-Solar-System-at-Sacramento-Plant.html
Filed in Cloud computing
Google has lost its appeal to keep a potentially damaging email away from the jury in the company’s legal fight with Oracle over Java.
Judge William Alsup, who is hearing the case, on Thursday upheld an earlier ruling that the email should remain part of the court record. The email, written by a Google engineer, suggests that Google knew it needed a license to use Oracle’s Java technology in Android.
Oracle accuses Google of infringing its Java patents and copyrights in the Dalvik virtual machine software in Android. Oracle took control of Java when it bought Sun Microsystems last year.
“What we’ve actually been asked to do (by Larry [Page] and Sergey [Brin]) is to investigate what technical alternatives exist to Java for Android and Chrome,” says the email, from Google engineer Tim Lindholm. “We’ve been over a bunch of these, and think they all suck. We conclude that we need to negotiate a license for Java under the terms we need.”
Article source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/242272/judge_refuses_to_exclude_troublesome_google_email.html
Filed in Cloud computing | Technology
As storage customers look for a way off the spinning disk merry-go-round, SSDs have become the hottest gadgets in the enterprise. But a team of computer scientists at Stanford University think they can do even better. The researchers have come up with a scalable, high performance storage approach dubbed RAMCloud — RAM because it stores all the data in DRAM, and cloud because it can aggregate the memory resources of a whole datacenter.
Article source: http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2011-10-20/ramcloud:_when_disks_and_flash_memory_are_just_too_slow.html
Filed in Cloud computing | Technology
When carriers and Internet companies go looking for business partners, sometimes they need look no further than the cabinets sitting beside them in the data center. This potential is seen in the Internet itself, which is made possible by physical linkages between networks. But it’s hard to form a business relationships in a neighborhood where the other residents may be anonymous to you.
Article source: http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/10/24/equinix-marketplace-seeks-to-connect-customers/
