Spector360

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

Interesting read:

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

Bus Art

Soutien Informatique à Distance

Why Software Matters

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

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

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

Entity Framework

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

IT Salary Survey

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

Particle Swarm Optimization

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

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

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

Wild Shoes

Designed by Kobi Levi - Israeli shoe designer