2016 Jun 8

Why the Internet of Things Is So Vulnerable

It seems every day there is another article about how "vulnerable" the Internet of Things (IoT) is. Here are two choice excerpts from the last year: "Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway," Wired, 21st July 2015 "Security Researcher Claims to have Hacked into Flight via Entertainment System," CNN, 19th May 2015 While these are major life-threatening issues - one cannot compare a malicious actor disabling your iPhone while you are on it with someone talking control of your car going 110 kmh down the highway, let alone a plane flying at 35,000 feet and 600 mph!

2016 Jun 2

An Electric Engine Doesn't Make it Cloud

I loved the Tesla shareholders meeting, for the same reason I love it when VCs write posts about "all the investments we passed on and regretted later." Bessemer Venture Partners even has a page dedicated to its "Anti-Portfolio." Fortune magazine called the Tesla meeting, "Elon Musk Confessions: All the Stupid Things Tesla Has Done." In the meeting, Musk catalogued many "stupid" mistakes (his words), although at the time they probably appeared smart, if slightly crazy (a characteristic required by every entrepreneur).

2016 Jun 1

Internet of Iotas

From the Cambridge Dictionary of English: iota (n.) - an extremely small amount From the Wikipedia: Internet of Things (IoT) - the network of physical objects—devices, vehicles, buildings and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data. As electronics get smaller and smaller, not just wearables like an Apple Watch, but even tiny full computers like the Raspberry Pi, the "

2016 May 25

What Emergency Rooms Could Learn from IT Help Desks

After more than twenty years working in many companies, many of them as a consultant often dramatically improving operations, I have received a blessing and a curse: Blessing: I see improvements and benefits potential almost everywhere. Curse: I see improvements and benefits missed almost everywhere. The other day, I spent six and half hours in a hospital emergency room (ER) with a family member. Fortunately, everything is fine, and they are healthy.

2016 May 17

The Pain Caused By Poor Software Design

Over the last few month, I was reminded - twice, painfully each time - about the impacts of good vs. bad software design choices, especially the impact those choices can have downstream. Ironically, it is not only - or even mainly - the creators and primary users of the software who are impacted, but others unforeseen at design time. Installing an Operating System Anyone who has installed an operating system on their laptop or server - or even smartphone - is familiar with a series of questions, choices and answers, as they configure the operating system.

2016 May 16

Big Bang Theory of Advertising, or How Broadcasters Are Like Supermarkets

One of the most popular recent television shows is CBS's "The Big Bang Theory," broadcast on Thursday evenings. In addition, the most recent 5 shows are available online on cbs.com. As with the live CBS broadcast, commercials are interspersed in the show - based on what I can tell at the same places as when broadcast in its normal slot. For decades, the entire broadcast television (and radio) business was based on advertising.

2016 May 10

The Real ROI of Cloud

Is hard return on investment all there is? In exploring business (and tech) projects, we have a tendency to think about the immediate, quantifiable ROI. Yet, there are times when the soft costs or other benefits outweigh any measurable ROI, and sometimes are even worth a negative ROI... in the short term. This was highlighted to me again yesterday. A colleague of mine is heading up a project to move tens of thousands of VMs from on-premise to the public cloud.

2016 May 4

Rise of the Luddites

For the last year or so, my various news feeds have been filled with dire warnings about the "Rise of the Robots." Apparently, the advances in robotics - hardware and software - are now beyond relatively simple home vacuums, and are poised to become the new drivers and waiters, gardeners and barbers. Simon Wardley has argued that they even could replace higher-intellect roles, such as CEOs. Many are worried that this is an economic disaster in the making, as millions of blue-collar and possibly white-collar jobs could be at risk.

2016 Apr 27

Docker and Browser - It's All About Packaging

What do Docker containers have to do with Web browsers? Everything. Web browsers provide easy access to the digitized collective knowledge of the human race, political rants, serious applications and even silly kittens. However, it is important to understand why browsers became so popular, and such a success. Prior to browsers, networked applications existed. Mostly, they were client-server two-tier applications, but they were quite popular in business, and many home personal computer users had such applications.

2016 Apr 26

Innovation in... Operating Systems?

For most of us - pretty much all of us - the way we use our operating system (OS) on our laptop is not that different from how we use it on our mobile or a system administrator uses it on a server: The operating system is installed to the local disk. Changes / upgrades are performed by installing files to the same disk and then rebooting. Software is installed and/or upgraded by installing files to the same disk.