Keeping software backwardly compatible attracts one of those colorful IT expressions — “Like kicking a dead whale down the beach.” The reason is pretty clear; consider all of that work that goes into keeping “dead” services alive. In many cases, …
While the world economy continues to look shaky, the technology industry has never looked stronger. Now is perhaps a good time to stop for a moment and reflect on what the next decade will be all about for the industry. …
Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Netflix are probably the sexiest examples of organizations using Big Data (re: petabytes of largely unstructured information) in amazing ways. It’s folly to think, however, that Big Data can’t be used in more prosaic, practical …
The Internet — or more specifically the World Wide Web — has revolutionized the way we publish and consume information. One of the most noticeable innovations fostered by the Web was the ability to mix text with other media such …
It wasn’t that long ago that web-savvy marketers were touting the advances in technology that allowed anyone to build a website, publish a blog, or embark on a social media campaign. The advent of mobile platforms has rendered all of …
The U.S. Patent System was wisely built to be flexible and allow for protection of future unimaginable technologies, while at the same time allowing for the protection of the inventions of its time: scientific discoveries and industrial innovations. Fortunately, the …
Growing up in the pre-digital world of Southern California, my early role models for effective communication came from three places: the football field, the locker room and my father, who taught me to be honest, forthright and occasionally blunt. Fast-forward …
“Coal mining may be your life, but it’s not mine. I’m never going down there again. I want to go into space.” – Homer Hickam in “October Sky” I was born in 1970, when people had just walked on the …
I remember as a child watching the horrific treatment of Ryan White as he was expelled from middle school and became the poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States. A young boy, not much older than me, was thrust …
This week much of the world’s media has been focused on the disappearance of Flight 370 in Malaysia. For those who don’t know, Malaysia Airline Flight 370 left Kuala Lumpur early Saturday morning heading for Beijing and then, quite literally, …
Science fiction writers used to imagine a world in which our robot servants would throw off the shackles of their masters and dominate the world in an orgy of anarchic destruction. What if it’s happened and no one noticed? As …
Those who ask, “what is the state of IT in today’s cloud-driven world?” are posing the wrong question. That’s because today’s enterprise IT has no state; it is, in many aspects of the word, stateless. IT is in a state …
It’s safe to say that many of us are fans of online shopping. The ease of use, convenience and abundance of available products make it incomparable to brick-and-mortar retail. Yet every now and then many of us get the urge …
Wearable technology will generate more confidential data than ever before. But will it stay secure? Remember how, just a few years ago, something called “the cloud” was generating a whole lot of buzz? There were competing predictions about where the …
When businesses and institutions are under the stress to change or innovate, their focus is on people rather than process. Many times they fail, because change and innovation are stifled by cognitive bias and the right environment of their business …
When Amazon recommends a book you would like, Google predicts that you should leave now to get to your meeting on time, and Pandora magically creates your ideal playlist, these are examples of machine learning over a Big Data stream. …
What do an urban planner in California, a dentist in Texas, and an engineer in New Jersey have in common? They use math every day. Whether you realize it or not, mathematics is central to many occupations. According to the …
Last year Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer created an uproar when she cancelled Yahoo’s work-at-home policy, issuing a memo that all telecommuting employees must return to work. On the heels of that change in policy, Best Buy followed suit with a …
Technology has taken us places we never dreamed possible just one generation ago. What’s next? Let’s lift our eyes, look over the horizon and think about where we’re really going. What’s after the Internet? Without a doubt, today’s Internet child …
Twenty-five years ago March 12, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. He released the source code into the public domain in 1991, spurring rapid adoption and a global sea-change in the way we create, consume, and share information. In …
I’m a social scientist by original training, having learned lots of theory from dead French and German philosophers, as well as stats from semi-sadistic quantoids at the University of Michigan. 15 years later I’m some kind of “Big Data” person, …
Organizations want to attract new customers, transform their businesses and IT infrastructure. They’re eager to develop mobile apps to improve customer service and interactions. Check out these facts about the advantages of becoming a mobile enterprise:
Network effects are the holy grail for Internet startups looking for venture-scale returns. On a platform with network effects, the value to a user increases as more users use it. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Skype, WhatsApp and many others benefit …
To quote Canadian author Douglas Coupland, “When the world throws you too much information, the only way you can stay sane or survive is to look for pattern recognition.” With 70% of enterprise organizations already deploying, or planning to deploy, …
The allure of innovation has always been in the chance of finding the next “big thing;” however, businesses often find themselves on the treadmill of relentless innovation as markets mature and technology advances. In addition, innovation has a poor track …
With a Nest Learning Thermostat, at any moment, no matter where you are in the world, you can pull out your iPhone and adjust the temperature in your house or compare your energy use to others. With a Fitbit or …
Are you a small or medium business? Have you ever heard of the TMCH or Trademark Clearinghouse? Do you know what a new gTLD is? If the answer to the last two questions is “no,” you’re not alone. It’s becoming …
There is a growing interest among mainstream consumers to learn more about who they are and where they came from. The good news is that DNA tests are no longer reserved for large medical research teams or plot lines in …
In a data-driven environment like Netflix, data visualization plays a key role. It must. In The Visual Organization, I offer the following definition of data visualization. Dataviz signifies the practice of representing data through visual and often interactive means. An individual …
For big enterprise services companies, the hot new trend is having a cloud-hosted platform for third-party applications. These platforms give app developers the resources they need to build, launch, promote, and integrate their apps with other businesses. This not only …
