Gearhead: Product updates Backspin: Entropy, identity and reputation * Gibbsblog: The past 7 days
Gearhead: Product updates
This week, a couple of great product updates: First,a few weeks ago we wrote about a program called Lightroom that’s published by Adobe.
To read this week’s Gearhead in its entirety, click here.
Backspin: Entropy, identity and reputation
This week’s musings were triggered by two things: A discussion on a tech-interest mailing list I belong to, and research I did for my Network World Web Applications newsletter about a company that aims to make reputation a common and easily determined quality.
To read this week’s Backspin in its entirety, click here.
Gibbsblog: The past 7 days
A Million Toothpicks Don’t Make a Tree
When it comes to corporations arguing that they loose money through a zillion tiny work “losses” such as employees checking their personal e-mail and then conclude megabuck losses as the consequence you really have to look at the equation rationally and ask whether fixing the cause of the loss would actually make the complainant better off.
Murphy Visits.
We all know that disk drives fail (“Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.”) and so we get a RAID system, stick our data on it, and then sit back with a warm, cozy feeling that we’re covered. If a disk fails, we’re good. What could go wrong?
Are you forced to keep up with the Joneses?
This came into the inbox recently:
It seems that between competing businesses within an industry, there is a sort-of size-measuring contest that goes on between respective executives, board members, etc.
IT seems to be a big part of this. I’m sure there are IT departments that willingly engage in the contest themselves, but in my business (where I am one of only two IT people) we are forced by our CEO to participate in this contest on a local level. We spend a lot of time tinkering with the newest (often bleeding-edge), flashiest (often useless) technology for the sake of others’ ego. Of course, normal operations suffer.
I was wondering if you had ever observed this phenomenon yourself or heard much about it.
Thank you.
Cheap Storage!
Just spotted on CheapStingyBargains.com: “CompUSA.com has the Connect Computers 400GB Hard Drive for $100 after $130 instant savings w/ free shipping.”
Update: Forget it. They sold out in a couple of hours. And there’s a small problem …
Driving the Web, Data or Information?
Off the top of your head, which company is the most central to how most people use the ‘Net? I’d bet that your answer is Google. So, what is it that Google offers that is unique? Simple, access to the greatest public data collection ever created that is also the most current. But what Google doesn’t do is provide information.
This means that if you want to find out the current gas prices in Ventura then Google’s the tool for the job. But what if you want to find out about gas pricing then Wikipedia will give you a more in-depth and focused answer.
This is an important distinction …
