Crimson Reason

Dutch Bridge Creativity

2012-01-17T17:00:00.007-05:00

This sunken bridge located in the Netherlands is giving visitors a unique way to access a beautiful 17th Century Dutch fort. Designed by RO & AD Architects, the Moses Bridge literally parts the waters that surround the fort, allowing pedestrians to pass through.

On IT Careers in 2012

2012-01-16T12:54:00.002-05:00

On IT Careers in 2012

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/010412-ceo-follow-254518.html

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/122311-outlook-staffing-quit-254362.html

An Entity Framework Book

2012-01-07T22:18:00.000-05:00

http://visualstudiomagazine.com/efbook

.NET Developer Salary Survey

2012-01-07T12:18:00.001-05:00

From the January 2012 issue of the Visual Studio Magazine:

http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2012/01/01/developer-salary-survey.aspx

File-Share Religion

2012-01-05T17:33:00.002-05:00

A "church" whose central tenet is the right to file-share has been formally
recognised by the Swedish government:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16424659

Prospects for Global Restraints on Cyberattack

2011-12-19T18:00:00.000-05:00

http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2011_12/Prospects_for_Global_Restraints_on_Cyberattack

Water-Scrum-fall is the reality of agile

2011-12-17T14:55:00.002-05:00

From the Software Development Times (www.sdtimes.com):

http://sdtimes.com/content/article.aspx?ArticleID=36195&print=true

3 observations:

Water defines the upfront work
Scrum comes in the middle of the process
Fall: Limits to release frequency

Agile Slaves

2011-12-17T14:48:00.001-05:00

http://sdtimes.com/blog/post/2011/11/11/Agile-slaves.aspx

Books on Lean Software Development

2011-12-17T14:44:00.001-05:00

From Software Development Times (http://sdtimes.com/):

"Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash"By Mary Poppendieck and Tom PoppendieckThis book taught me a different way of thinking, and helped me understand where the agile approach to software development comes from. I had read a lot of agile stuff on the Web, but the ideas presented there were not well defended. The authors of this book show you the research behind their approach to software development.— Bill Wagner

"Leading Lean Software Development: Results Are Not the Point "By Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck"Leading Lean Software Development" addresses one of the key issues that software development teams following the Scrum methodology tend to struggle with: how to focus on the larger organization, not just the team itself.— Ellen Gottesdiener

Art & Technology

2011-12-09T17:57:00.004-05:00

Tag: We’re It is a digital art installation that used projectors to deliver a floating field of droplets along a white wall. Visitors to the exhibition were invited to share a memory which is recorded and they were then presented with a frame which they could use to reconstruct a Microsoft Tag by placing their frame on any grouping of droplets on the wall. This may sound confusing – just hit play on the video above to see the resulting beauty of the installation. Viewers could use their smartphone to scan the tag that their frame created and access any one of a hundred pre-recorded video memories, perhaps even their own.

The exhibition was attended by over 400 people in two days, and was extended by the gallery for two weeks through the E.A.S.T. Austin studio tour - Austin’s single largest art event of the year. It was the work of Lisa Kaselak, a filmmaker and digital artist and Lee Billington, a creative director and designer specializing in interactive design. They wanted a two-dimensional piece of art that you could explore and that delivered more than just the surface content. Microsoft Tag afforded that opportunity, not least as the Tag’s are dynamic (unlike QR codes) so the video content could easily be changed.

To quote one of their visitors - "I haven’t seen art and technology come together in quite this way"

http://vimeo.com/leeandlisa/tagwereit

Piet & Other Languages

2011-12-09T17:14:00.001-05:00

I love Piet! It’s so cool!

Piet: http://www.dangermouse.net/esoteric/piet.html

Chef: http://www.dangermouse.net/esoteric/chef.html

Other esoteric languages: http://www.dangermouse.net/esoteric/

2 Articles of Touch User Interfaces - TUI

2011-12-08T11:45:00.001-05:00

Two useful articles on TUI:

http://www.eetimes.com/design/embedded/4231144/The-challenges-of-multi-touch-gesture-interfaces?Ecosystem=embedded

and

http://www.eetimes.com/design/embedded/4231057/Gesture-recognition-first-step-toward-3D-UIs-?Ecosystem=embedded

Book on Touch User Interfaces

2011-12-08T11:37:00.002-05:00

In the book "Brave NUI World: Designing Natural User Interfaces for Touch and Gesture", Daniel Wigdor and Dennis Wixon discuss the design of Touch User Interfaces (TUI).

Miniatur Wunderland

2011-12-03T15:14:00.002-05:00

Miniatur Wunderland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ACkmg3Y64_s

I wonder what the IT infrastructure is for its support?

Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie 9/9/1941-10/12/2011

2011-12-02T13:40:00.000-05:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ritchie

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-20119811-92/dennis-ritchie-father-of-c-programming-language-dies/

Genetic Algorithms & Einstein Equations

2011-12-01T15:02:00.002-05:00

I think that genetic algorithms may be used to automatically discover new (exact and approximate) solutions of Einstein Equations. I have written a little bit on how to do so here @ https://skydrive.live.com/?sc=documents&cid=58aac97211c98e70#cid=58AAC97211C98E70&id=58AAC97211C98E70%21182

Free Molecular Genetics Book

2011-12-01T12:56:00.001-05:00

Free book on Theoretical Molecular Genetics @ http://evolution.genetics.washington.edu/pgbook/pgbook.html

Junked Car Art

2011-11-16T10:57:00.001-05:00

Bicycle Parts Art

2011-11-13T01:01:00.000-05:00

Shoe Creativity

2011-11-11T14:31:00.005-05:00

Creativity is Everything!

Useful Introductions to MapRedue

2011-11-10T14:21:00.002-05:00

Some useful material on MapReduce

http://code.google.com/edu/parallel/mapreduce-tutorial.html

web.cs.wpi.edu/~cs4513/d08/OtherStuff/MapReduce-TeamA.ppt

http://www.sdtimes.com/link/36028

Resources for Android

2011-11-08T14:59:00.003-05:00

Bill Gatliff & Karim Yaghmour have posted their slides and sample code (from the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) at Boston) online at www.billgatliff.com/~bgat/esc-bos2011/ and www.opersys

Intel also has made available the following course on running Android on IA (x86) CPUs:

https://intel.wingateweb.com/us11/scheduler/catalog.do

http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/index.html

http://software.intel.com/en-us/android/

Temporal Databases

2011-11-03T16:26:00.001-05:00

Richard T. Snodgrass is a professor at the University of Arizona (http://www.cs.arizona.edu/people/rts/ ) whose whole career is based on temporal databases. You can download a copy of his Morgan-Kaufmann book in (Developing Time-Oriented Database Applications in SQL) in PDF and get the SQL code at the university website.

Gratitude

2011-11-03T15:40:00.000-05:00

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxSF-Louie-Schwartzberg-Grati

Steve Jobs: 02/24/1955 – 10/05/2011

2011-10-22T10:44:00.001-05:00

Robots and War

2011-10-08T21:53:00.001-05:00

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/sep/29/predators-and-robots-war/?page=1

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die

2011-10-08T10:03:00.001-05:00

Stanford University, Filmed June 2005; Posted Oct 2011

http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html

Lost Causes in Theoretical Physics

2011-10-04T12:19:00.001-05:00

Lost Causes in Theoretical Physics: http://www.mth.kcl.ac.uk/~streater/lostcauses.html

OpenStack

2011-10-04T08:55:00.001-05:00

OpenStack is a global collaboration of developers and cloud computing technologists producing the ubiquitous open source cloud computing platform for public and private clouds.

Find it @ http://www.openstack.org/

Innovation

2011-09-27T10:17:00.001-05:00

Innovation in an unlikely place:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/next/archive/2011/09/25/shedding-light-in-a-novel-way.aspx

Can a Supercomputer Predict a Revolution?

2011-09-16T23:55:00.001-05:00

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/09/16/can_a_supercomputer_predict_a_revolution

Free eCookBook

2011-09-13T13:56:00.001-05:00

Find your free eCookbook @ www.GCPowerTools.com/CookBook

SpeechTrans Ultimate App

2011-09-07T09:27:00.000-05:00

The company SpeechTrans has a product called the SpeechTrans Ultimate App. It's available in versions for the iPad, iPhone and Android platforms. The application turns spoken words from one language into voice output in another by enabling text-to-text, text-to-speech, and two-way speech-to-speech communication translations in multiple languages.

Two-way speech communications are enabled for English, UK English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, German and Mandarin Chinese. Text-to-speech is available for the preceding languages as well as Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Dutch, Swedish and Arabic.

The application also stores and can play back previous translations, without access to an Internet connection. In this version the auto-translate feature can be turned off, allowing same language conversations. Information from other applications can also be cut and pasted into SpeechTrans, so it can be translated and read aloud to another individual.

The ability to store and play back translations is a valuable feature for communicating frequently asked questions or phrases and to enable usage without an Internet connection. The Automatic Speech Recognition technology used in SpeechTrans Ultimate comes from Nuance Communications, a specialist in speech recognition and other technologies.

Spector360

2011-08-31T12:02:00.001-05:00

Here is another nail in the coffin of Liberty.

http://www.spectorsoft.com/ads/360wild/

I wonder if the developers of these products are aware of the fact that they are directly enabling totalitarianism?

The Gestapo and the KGB would have been proud!

Innovator's Dilemma: Why Kindle Cannot be Manufactured in US

2011-08-25T17:11:00.000-05:00

Interesting read:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/08/17/why-amazon-cant-make-a-kindle-in-the-usa/

Bus Art

2011-08-25T14:25:00.003-05:00

Soutien Informatique à Distance

2011-08-25T14:24:00.002-05:00

Why Software Matters

2011-08-24T15:02:00.000-05:00

From the Wall Street Journal 08/20/2010:

Mark Andreesen of Netscape fame writes:

"Six decades into the computer revolution, four decades since the invention of the microprocessor, and two decades into the rise of the modern Internet, all of the technology required to transform industries through software finally works and can be widely delivered at global scale."

Free Steven Hawking Book

2011-08-21T23:22:00.003-05:00

Full text of the book, "The Grand Design" by Steven Hawking @ http://www.physicisttv.com/videos/The%20Grand%20Design.pdf

Cloud Computing, Utility Computing, and Public Utilities

2011-08-21T01:07:00.000-05:00

There is a concern that if one has selected the wrong cloud provider, one could find oneself in an emergency when that provider has exited the business, has failed, or has gone out of business.

The situation in such cases could get even worse if litigation is involved and one’s data or applications are impounded by court rulings or access to them has been restricted.

I have come to the conclusion that in order to address these concerns, cloud providers ought to conform – as much as possible – to the business model of regulated public utilities.

Either that, or non-profit organizations.

HP, Microsoft, and other technology vendors will make their money not by offering cloud services but by supplying the Cloud Utilities with Software, Hardware, and Network Connectivity.

New Murals of John Pugh

2011-08-16T14:43:00.001-05:00

Entity Framework

2011-08-13T23:07:00.003-05:00

A brief, but to-the-point, review of Microsoft's Entity Framework from SD Times Magazine @ http://www.sdtimes.com/content/article.aspx?ArticleID=35808&page=1.

Definitely worth reading.

This is not a replacement for LINQ; LINQ is excellent (through custom LINQ providers) for accessing unstructured data (non-relational data for which SQL statements could not be written).

Sic Transit Mundi

2011-08-13T15:31:00.003-05:00

IT Salary Survey

2011-08-13T15:29:00.001-05:00

IT Salary Survey from the Redmonde Magazine @ http://redmondmag.com/salarysurveys/

Particle Swarm Optimization

2011-08-10T10:57:00.001-05:00

Particle swarm optimization is an (AI) technique that can be used to find approximate solutions to numeric maximization and minimization problems. A version of it is described in this article

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/hh335067.aspx

and code sample

http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/mag201108PSO/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=569

You only need the free edition of Visual Studio 2010 (the Express Edition) to compile and run this code.

Dumbing Down Embedded Design

2011-08-10T10:17:00.002-05:00

Look at:

http://www.eetimes.com/discussion/-include/4218261/Dumbing-down-embedded-design?Ecosystem=embedded

and "Android—Google’s Mobile Platform and its Capabilities for Embedded"

In a nutshell? Learn (embedded) Linux and Java.

LDRA Software Tools

2011-08-10T10:15:00.001-05:00

LDRA is a provider of software tools in the areas of testing, requirements, and security. Check out their tools @ http://www.ldra.com/index.asp

Photoshopped Animal Kingdom

2011-08-09T20:44:00.004-05:00

Wild Shoes

2011-08-09T19:22:00.007-05:00

Free eBook on Chaos

2011-08-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

Free book on Classical and Quantum Chaos:

http://chaosbook.org/

Free Embedded Computing Magazines

2011-08-08T20:59:00.001-05:00

http://opensystemsmedia.com/subscriptions/new/domestic

GPS for Wines

2011-08-01T15:27:00.001-05:00

Satellites help French winemakers pick a perfect harvest: see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8673485/Satellites-help-French-winemakers-pick-a-perfect-harvest.html

How Algorithms Shape Our World

2011-07-30T10:40:00.002-05:00

Kevin Slavin argues that we're living in a world designed for -- and increasingly controlled by -- algorithms. Find it @
http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_slavin_how_algorithms_shape_our_world.html

Visual Display of Quantitative Data

2011-07-28T12:33:00.001-05:00

US Debt (excludes the 80 trillion dollars or so of un-secured financial instruments such as derivatives.)

http://www.wtfnoway.com/

Review of Introduction to Computational Sciences

2011-07-23T22:06:00.002-05:00

My review of the book "Introduction to Computational Sciences" may be found @ http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Computational-Science-Modeling-Simulation/dp/0691125651/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

Creativity

2011-07-20T11:33:00.004-05:00

Leaf Art

2011-07-20T11:29:00.003-05:00

Free Memory Diagnostics Tool

2011-07-18T21:23:00.002-05:00

MemTest86+, from www.memtest.com, is a free tool for diagnosing PC memory problems. It runs from a boot CD which enables it to test areas of memory that are normally in use by Windows.

Evaluating the Cloud Computing Act of 2011

2011-07-18T21:21:00.000-05:00

From the Brookings Institution:

http://www.brookings.edu/events/2011/0616_cloud_computing.aspx

PhDs, Policies and Patents: Innovation and America’s Future

2011-07-18T21:19:00.000-05:00

From the Brookings Institution:

http://www.brookings.edu/events/2011/0628_innovation.aspx

Report: Top 25 Coding Mistakes

2011-07-18T21:18:00.001-05:00

From the Application Development Trends:

http://adtmag.com/articles/2011/06/28/top-25-coding-mistakes.aspx

15th Annual IT Salary Survey: Good Times Ahead?

2011-07-18T21:17:00.001-05:00

From the Redmonde Magazine:

http://redmondmag.com/Articles/2010/08/01/15th-annual-salary-survey-good-times-ahead.aspx

What Do the Highest-Paid Programmers Make?

2011-07-18T21:10:00.001-05:00

From the Application Development Trends:

http://adtmag.com/articles/2011/05/27/what-highest-paid-programmers-earn.aspx?sc_lang=en

Top 10 Free tools for Sys. Admins.

2011-07-18T21:06:00.002-05:00

From the July 2011 issue of the Redmond Magazine

10. Disk Space Monitor

http://www.tinyurl.com/Rzrvm77

9. Bulk Password Reset

http://www.tinyurl.com/Lgntax2

8. Windows Service Monitor

http://www.tinyurl.com/Qzh9fog

7. VMware Change Reporter

http://www.tinyurl.com/Kzpc4s3

6. Active Directory Object Restore Wizard

http://www.tinyurl.com/BRces62

5. File Server Change Reporter

http://www.tinyurl.com/ih55n2d

4. Inactive Users Tracker

http://www.tinyurl.com/N56p4n5

3. Password Expiration Notifier

http://www.tinyurl.com/TYe7ak

2. USB Blocker

http://www.tinyurl.com/Zh5a8w8

1. Active Directory Change Reporter

http://www.tinyurl.com/Kf9kn3s

Why Privacy and Cybersecurity Clash

2011-06-15T15:19:00.003-05:00

Privacy has come to mean more than the protection of personal data. Privacy today is not just preserving individual control of personal data, Privacy means preserving the original sense of unlimited opportunity the internet seemed to offer, as an unconstrained space for individual action.

See James Lewis's essay @ http://csis.org/files/publication/110615_CNAS_lewis_cyber.pdf

340-sqaure-feet House

2011-06-15T15:12:00.008-05:00

Once again, design is everthing!

Books for Windows Gadget Programming

2011-06-07T22:27:00.005-05:00

These are 2 decent books on developing gadgets for Windows. Unfortunately, they do not cover Windows 7 but are still quite useful (with small modifications - see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd370867(VS.85).aspx ) for Windows 7 gadget development. They are:

1. "Creating Vista Gadgets: Using HTML, CSS and JavaScript with Examples in RSS, Ajax, ActiveX (COM) and Silverlight" by Rajesh Lal; Paperback; $25.49

2. "Professional Windows Vista Gadgets Programming (Programmer to Programmer)"Wei-Meng Lee; Paperback; $0.01

I liked Mr. Lee's book more since it contained detailed usable code.

More Innovative Designs

2011-06-07T22:22:00.005-05:00

Creativity is everything!

Erik Meijer

2011-05-23T16:17:00.002-05:00

Erik Meijer, a former computer science professor at the Univerity of Utrecht, is an accomplished programming-language designer who has worked on a wide range of languages, including Haskell, Mondrian, X#, Cω, C#, and Visual Basic.

He runs the Cloud Programmability Team at Microsoft, where his primary focus has been to remove the impedance mismatch between databases and programming languages.

One of the fruits of these efforts is LINQ, which allows developers to query data sources other than tables, such as objects or XML.

Most recently, Erik has been working on democratizing the Cloud using Volta and preaching the virtues of fundamentalist functional programming in the new age of concurrency and many-core. Some people might recognize him from his brief stint as the "Head in the Box" on Microsoft VBTV.

These days, you can watch him @ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/emeijer/ErikMeijer.html

X#

2011-05-23T16:14:00.001-05:00

X# (pronounced X-sharp) is a general-purpose, XML-oriented Web application programming language created by Intalio. It is at the core of products like IntalioCloud. It is also functionally equivalent to Salesforce.com's Visualforce programming language. Learn more about it @ http://www.intalio.com/x-sharp and http://www.gocosmos.org/blog/20080428.en.aspx

Cω

2011-05-23T16:12:00.000-05:00

Cω is a research programming language. It can be written (and searched for) as Cw or the "Comega language". Learn more about it @ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/cambridge/projects/comega/

The Reactive Extensions (Rx)...

2011-05-23T16:09:00.002-05:00

The Reactive Extensions (Rx)......is a library to compose asynchronous and event-based programs using observable collections and LINQ-style query operators. Learn more about it @ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/gg577609

Two jQuery Books

2011-05-23T16:00:00.004-05:00

Two useful books on jQuery which is to JavaScript like what the Standard Template Library is to C++!

jQuery Cookbook by Cody Lindley

jQuery in Action by Bear Bibeault & Yehuda Katz.

Refactoring Resources

2011-05-16T16:13:00.005-05:00

A Taxonomy for "Bad Code Smells" @ http://www.soberit.hut.fi/mmantyla/badcodesmellstaxonomy.htm

Martin Fowler's Refactoring site @ http://www.refactoring.com/

There are also the following tools:

ReSharper @ http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/

Visual Assist X (for C++) @ http://www.wholetomato.com/products/featureRefactoring.asp

Multimodal Architecture and Specifications

2011-05-15T10:18:00.002-05:00

These are standards for integrating multimodal capabilities such as speech, recognition, gesture recognition, and biometrics in software applications. Learn more about them @

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-multimodarch1/

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-multimodarch2/

and

http://www.w3.org/TR/mmi-arch/

The Cloud vs. IT: Is Your Job in Jeopardy?

2011-05-15T10:14:00.000-05:00

From the Redmonde Magazine

"... there's a new threat to IT: the cloud. The typical vendor push is this: Let us have your data and your apps, and because we're so efficient, you can reduce the workforce -- you know, all those pesky IT folks who keep machines running, data secure and performance up to snuff. That's one reason many in IT resist the cloud. It's like outsourcing their jobs to Amazon.com Inc. or Google Inc. or Microsoft.

Others see the cloud as just another evolution of IT, and nothing much to worry about. In fact, they see it as something to embrace. But for nearly everyone in IT, when it comes to the cloud, issues of cost, security, data control and integrity, and job loss are present in one way or another."

Doom on the Moon

2011-04-27T22:08:00.001-05:00

A 3-D Immersive NASA Exploration Game

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/ltp/games/moonbasealpha/index.html

Five Search Alternatives

2011-04-26T11:37:00.002-05:00

http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2011/03/30/five-search-alternatives.aspx

Windows Azure Resoures

2011-04-23T21:52:00.002-05:00

IaaS, PaaS, and the Windows Azure Platform @ http://www.keithpij.com/Portals/0/Downloads/IaaS,%20PaaS,%20and%20the%20Windows%20Azure%20Platform.pdf

Manager's Guide to Windows Azure, courtesy of Infosys @ http://www.infosys.com/offerings/cloud/resource-center/documents/primer-windows-azure.pdf

Windows Azure Developer Guidance Map @ http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-48-03/0211.Windows-Azure-Developer-Guidance-Map-_2D00_-v1.pdf

And SharePoint and Windows Azure Development Primer @
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=6d2dc556-650a-484f-8f52-f641967b42ea

Windows Azure Jump Start Training Videos@ http://microsoftph.com/download/Just_Released!_Free_In-depth_Windows_Azure_Training_Videos.pdf

And samples @ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows-azure-code-samples.aspx

The Windows Azure Platform: Articles from the Trenches @ http://selfpacedazure.web.officelive.com/Documents/Windows%20Azure%20Platform%20Articles%20from%20the%20Trenches.pdf

Windows Azure™ Security Overview @ http://www.globalfoundationservices.com/security/documents/WindowsAzureSecurityOverview1_0Aug2010.pdf

Security Best Practices For Developing Windows Azure Applications @ http://www.globalfoundationservices.com/security/documents/SecurityBestPracticesWindowsAzureApps.pdf

Creative Advertising

2011-04-16T11:31:00.002-05:00

http://www.funzug.com/index.php/creativity/the-creative-att-advertisements.html

Douglas Wheelock's Pictures from Space

2011-04-04T11:11:00.006-05:00

NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock who was aboard the International Space Station shares pictures of the Earth he snaps with the world through Twitter.

Fruit flies teach computers a lesson

2011-03-26T10:05:00.001-05:00

"Fruit flies have solved a computing problem that has vexed computer scientists for decades. Mimicking how some nerve cells in flies pick a leader to make decisions has led scientists to a computer algorithm that could make wireless sensor networks, such as those used for monitoring volcanic activity or controlling swarms of robots, much more efficient."

Don't Fear the Command Line

2011-03-26T09:53:00.003-05:00

A free eBook, "Introduction to the Command Line", is available @ http://dontfearthecommandline.blogspot.com/2010/09/free-ebook-introduction-to-command-line.html

Practical Computing for Biologists

2011-03-26T09:45:00.002-05:00

This book teaches computer skills to biologists by focusing on topics and techniques that are applicable to a range of bio-infomatics endeavors. These topics include:

Searching with regular expressions
The Unix command line
Python programming and debugging
Creating and editing graphics
Databases
Performing analyses on remote servers
Working with electronics

The main narrative focuses on Mac OS X.

The book is designed to be used as a self-guided resource for researchers, a companion book in a course, or as a primary textbook.

Find it @ http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Computing-Biologists-Steven-Haddock/dp/product-description/0878933913/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Gladinet Cloud Desktop

2011-03-23T10:07:00.004-05:00

Gladinet Cloud Desktop is a Windows client software that enables seamless access, aggregation, and backup to cloud storage sites. The following are supported:

Amazon S3
AT&T Synaptic Storage
Caringo CAStor
EMC Atmos Online
Google Storage
Nirvanix
Mezeo
Windows/Azure
Box.net
OpenStack
Peer1 CloudOne
Rackspace CloudFiles
FTP
WebDav

Find it @ http://www.gladinet.com/p/moreaboutdesktop.htm

There is a free starter edition for non-commercial use.

The licensing information may be found @ http://www.gladinet.com/gladwiki/moin.cgi/Gladinet_CloudDesktop_License

Millimeter-scale Computer

2011-03-19T20:57:00.002-05:00

http://medgadget.com/archives/2011/02/first_millimeterscale_comuter_will_be_used_for_glaucoma_patients.html

Plastic Processors

2011-03-19T20:50:00.004-05:00

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/24/imec-creates-flexible-microprocessor-with-organic-semiconductors/

and

http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/processors/the-plastic-processor

Patent Reform

2011-03-19T20:48:00.000-05:00

From EETimes "Patent reform act of 2011 will deter innovation and send jobs overseas"

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4213514/Patent-reform-act-will-deter-innovation-and-send-jobs-overseas-

Selected Bibliography for Cyber Security

2011-03-18T09:09:00.000-05:00

From CSIS: http://csis.org/files/publication/110316_Cybersecurity_Bibliography.pdf

XMind

2011-03-18T09:02:00.002-05:00

This is mind mapping tool similar to the MindManager from MindJet and MS Visio's BarinStorming feature.

It is very easy to use and intuitive.

Watching diagrams is usually more effective that reading the prose.

The disadvantage is that the free version of the application has limited export features, but there is a possibility to put the body into a Word document

You can download XMind free version from http://www.xmind.net/.

Think static analysis cures all ills?

2011-03-13T21:43:00.000-05:00

Mark Pitchford explains:

"Static code analysis has been around as long as software itself, but you'd swear from current tradeshows that it was just invented. Here's how to choose the right code-analysis tools for your project."

NHTSA-NASA Study of Unintended Acceleration in Toyota Vehicles

2011-03-13T21:21:00.002-05:00

NHTSA-NASA Study of Unintended Acceleration in Toyota Vehicles @ http://www.nhtsa.gov/UA

The report may be found @ http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nvs/pdf/NHTSA-UA_report.pdf

NASA team applied static source-code analysis, formal logic model checking, and algorithm analysis through simulation.

The report states "The team's experience is that there is no single analysis technique today that can reliably intercept all vulnerabilities, but that it is strongly recommended to deploy a range of different leading tools."

For code analysis, the team used Coverity, CodeSonar, and Bell Labs' Uno to identify common coding defects and suspicious coding patterns. The team also used CodeSonar to compare Toyota's code against a Jet Propulsion Lab coding standards (1,2,3).

For model checking, the team used open-source Spin and Swarm. To use a formal model checker, one first has to write formal models. The team built models only for those software modules it believed could be culprits; the formal analysis depended on human judgment.

The algorithm analysis began with building models in Matlab. This process started with reading Toyota documentation and talking with Toyota engineers, and then progressed to analyzing the source code and finally testing the models against actual Camrys. Once the NASA team was satisfied with the models, they explored failure scenarios in Simulink and checked delays with AbsInt aiT.

Some conclusions suggest themselves. First, there are no silver bullets: effective debug means using everything you've got.

Second, even when it's grounded in exhaustive and formal techniques, an evaluation is circumscribed by the evaluators' beliefs about the possible behavior of the system.

Third, there is no certainty. Despite Toyota's great care in developing their code, NASA's analysis found significant errors, including serious underestimates of delays in the multiprocessing system.

But the investigation could not link those errors to any proposed mechanism for unintended acceleration. NASA Executive Summary stated "Because proof that the ETCS-i caused the reported UAs [unintended accelerations] was not found does not mean it could not occur."

Good News on Jobs

2011-03-13T16:15:00.003-05:00

Prepare for talent wars, IT poaching, Dice.com warns @ http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/030311-talent-poaching.html

Is your company at risk of an IPv6 brain drain? @ http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/010311-outlook-careers.html

Career Watch: Six promising technology job titles @ http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/030711-career-watch-six-promising-technology.html?page=1

Four more iOS apps for IT

2011-03-13T16:01:00.000-05:00

http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2011/030311-gearhead.html

Hacking Nook Color

2011-03-13T15:50:00.001-05:00

Free article from WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703662804576188901890884360.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLETopStories

Check the comments tab for more details.

And a “how-to” posting:

http://reviewhorizon.com/2011/01/how-to-root-your-nook-color-and-transform-it-into-a-cheap-android-tablet/

Welcome to the Mobile Battlefield, HP

2011-03-13T15:47:00.002-05:00

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4212983/Welcome-to-the-mobile-battlefield-HP

A German Car Factory

2011-02-09T12:44:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/embed/nd5WGLWNllA

Google Art Project

2011-02-08T17:04:00.002-05:00

http://www.googleartproject.com/

GPS-Encoded Pictures

2011-02-07T21:58:00.002-05:00

Just a bit of information ...........you may wish to know.

I understand this feature exists on cell phone pix and later model cameras.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=7621105

More on Cyber-security

2011-02-04T11:23:00.002-05:00

From CSIS

http://csis.org/publication/cybersecurity-two-years-later

http://csis.org/files/publication/110128_Lewis_CybersecurityTwoYearsLater_Web.pdf

http://csis.org/files/publication/101111_Evans_HumanCapital_Web.pdf