Saturday, November 26, 2011
Microsoft TellMe vs. Apple Siri
Same as making a tablet computer,
design and implementation "details" make all the difference...
Windows tablet was available for 10 years,
but only after iPad has demonstrated what a tablet should be,
now we have a race to make them better and more affordable...
Microsoft Doesn't Get It, Episode 65,536: TellMe versus Siri
Friday, November 25, 2011
Microsoft Billion Dollar Businesses
Microsoft Has A Dozen Billion Dollar Businesses -- Do You Know What They Are?
Windows: $19B
Office: $15B
...
STEVE BALLMER'S NIGHTMARE: How Microsoft's Business Actually Could Collapse
Microsoft has sales of nearly $70 billion a year, annual profits approaching $20 billion, nearly $60 billion in cash, and is still growing sales around 10% per year.
But somehow, many people in Silicon Valley are convinced that Microsoft is going to collapse. Soon. Like in the next few years.
...
STEVE BALLMER'S NIGHTMARE: How Microsoft's Business Actually Could Collapse
Microsoft has sales of nearly $70 billion a year, annual profits approaching $20 billion, nearly $60 billion in cash, and is still growing sales around 10% per year.
But somehow, many people in Silicon Valley are convinced that Microsoft is going to collapse. Soon. Like in the next few years.
Blogger vs. Blogspot
The Difference Between Blogger and Blogspot ~ Isaac Yassar's blogspot
Blogger (www.blogger.com) is a free publishing platform owned by the giant company Google. A publishing platform means a comprehensive tool to publish articles and web-pages in a domain / website. Therefore, users don’t have to use the old school file transfer protocol (FTP) to run their websites, the platform takes care of everything.
This platform does not have to be used with Blogspot, it can also be used with any other custom domain (such as www.yourname.com). The system is similar to Worpress.ORG: free publishing platform.
Blogspot (www.blogspot.com) is a free domain service provider owned by the same giant: Google. The free domain provided is actually a sub domain (like example.blogspot.com). This company is to support Blogger in delivering free blogging service.
@Wikipedia
API
Blogger (www.blogger.com) is a free publishing platform owned by the giant company Google. A publishing platform means a comprehensive tool to publish articles and web-pages in a domain / website. Therefore, users don’t have to use the old school file transfer protocol (FTP) to run their websites, the platform takes care of everything.
This platform does not have to be used with Blogspot, it can also be used with any other custom domain (such as www.yourname.com). The system is similar to Worpress.ORG: free publishing platform.
Blogspot (www.blogspot.com) is a free domain service provider owned by the same giant: Google. The free domain provided is actually a sub domain (like example.blogspot.com). This company is to support Blogger in delivering free blogging service.
@Wikipedia
API
"Business of Software" conference videos
"Business of Software" recorded presentations - great speakers!
here is one of presentations...
What have I learned in 40 years of developing software products that people use? -
Dan Bricklin (VisiCalc)
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Creating Passionate Users - Kathy Sierra
Blogpodcast: Kathy Sierra | Creating Passionate Users
(a keynote presentation at O'Reilly TOC)
Can authors and publishers make money with a new book?
...the reality is that only 5% of all books are profitable.
This was not acceptable formula to feed the family after dot-com bust,
so she and her husband "reverse engineered" what makes successful books
based on Amazon.com reviews. Then, they used the "formula" to produce best-seller "Head First" series of books for many years and many books...
Idea: "Don't make a better Java book,
make a better Java programmer!"
Result: #1 sales in Java programming books @ Amazon
books that actually get readers to write programs,
instead of just learning about writing programs.
And the formula is... (watch the video :)
Video @ TOC
Could this successful idea be extended to all product and services?
"Make products that customers actually want to use to get better,
more successful, instead of to just have a product."
Yes, sometimes "using" is to be able to brag that you "have" a Lexus,
but if most owners actually like "driving" BMW that is a best advertising.
That is how BMW can be a successful business and not very large.
That is how Apple can sell as many iPads as they can make,
because "apps" empower users...
OK, so this is nothing new, I guess, so I tried to "google it"...
products that people want to use, not just to have
Some interesting links found so far:
- How to start a Startup by Paul Graham
- How to Fix Microsoft "go lean, and listen to your customers"
- Creating a product that sells itself
- Don’t Sell Technology, Sell Magic
- Steve Jobs @ Wikiquote
- What I Learned From Steve Jobs - How to Change the World by Guy Kawasaki
- Google user experience
- What Wikipedia is not
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
First, Let's Fire All the Managers - Harvard Business Review
First, Let's Fire All the Managers - Harvard Business Review
HBR IdeaCast podcast
The podcast mentions an company ("Morning Star Institute" / Company) that has completely "flat" structure, no managers, and is quite successful...
A small organization may have one manager and 10 employees; one with 100,000 employees and the same 1:10 span of control will have 11,111 managers. That’s because an additional 1,111 managers will be needed to manage the managers. In addition, there will be hundreds of employees in management-related functions, such as finance, human resources, and planning. Their job is to keep the organization from collapsing under the weight of its own complexity. Assuming that each manager earns three times the average salary of a first-level employee, direct management costs would account for 33% of the payroll. Any way you cut it, management is expensive.
HBR IdeaCast podcast
The podcast mentions an company ("Morning Star Institute" / Company) that has completely "flat" structure, no managers, and is quite successful...
A small organization may have one manager and 10 employees; one with 100,000 employees and the same 1:10 span of control will have 11,111 managers. That’s because an additional 1,111 managers will be needed to manage the managers. In addition, there will be hundreds of employees in management-related functions, such as finance, human resources, and planning. Their job is to keep the organization from collapsing under the weight of its own complexity. Assuming that each manager earns three times the average salary of a first-level employee, direct management costs would account for 33% of the payroll. Any way you cut it, management is expensive.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
BMW i3
BMW i3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The BMW i3, previously Mega City Vehicle (MCV), is an urban electric car under development by BMW. The i3 is part of BMW's "Project i" and is being planned as a new brand, BMW i. The BMW i3 is expected to go into mass production in 2013 with deliveries in several world markets by that year end
BMW i8
The BMW i8, first introduced as the BMW Concept Vision Efficient Dynamics, is a plug-in hybrid under development by BMW...
According to BMW, the average fuel consumption in the EU test cycle (KV01) is 3.76 liters/100 kilometers, (75.1 mpg imp)
The BMW i3, previously Mega City Vehicle (MCV), is an urban electric car under development by BMW. The i3 is part of BMW's "Project i" and is being planned as a new brand, BMW i. The BMW i3 is expected to go into mass production in 2013 with deliveries in several world markets by that year end
BMW i8
The BMW i8, first introduced as the BMW Concept Vision Efficient Dynamics, is a plug-in hybrid under development by BMW...
According to BMW, the average fuel consumption in the EU test cycle (KV01) is 3.76 liters/100 kilometers, (75.1 mpg imp)
Monday, November 21, 2011
How To Run Android Apps on Your Windows PC
How To Run Android Apps on Your Windows PC | Tim Bajarin | PCMag.com
...there are 200,000 plus Android apps already...
It turns out that BlueStacks is one of those gems that early stage investors love. So far, it has been backed by Andreeson Horowitz, Redpoint, Ignition Partners, Radar, and Helion (Jeff Bezos' VC fund), with strategic investments coming from AMD, Citrix, and two others who are not public yet.
...there are 200,000 plus Android apps already...
It turns out that BlueStacks is one of those gems that early stage investors love. So far, it has been backed by Andreeson Horowitz, Redpoint, Ignition Partners, Radar, and Helion (Jeff Bezos' VC fund), with strategic investments coming from AMD, Citrix, and two others who are not public yet.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
2010 Chicago Auto Show - a set on Flickr
Great illustrations and and fun and wit comments: lunchbreath
This is a "contemporary" stile for design...
2010 Chicago Auto Show - a set on Flickr
This is a "contemporary" stile for design...
2010 Chicago Auto Show - a set on Flickr
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Chinese Students In U.S. Colleges
podcast: Chinese Students In U.S. Colleges | On Point with Tom Ashbrook
American colleges flooded by Chinese applicants and the application process isn’t always honest.
For American colleges that want to go global a natural place to look for students is China. The Chinese want American college degrees; and American colleges want diversity, not to mention students who can pay their own way.
But it’s not always an easy fit. Many Chinese hire agents to fill out their applications, write their essays – even their recommendations. The result – a growing population of Chinese students struggling to fit in, and a growing number of colleges struggling to fit them in.
American colleges flooded by Chinese applicants and the application process isn’t always honest.
For American colleges that want to go global a natural place to look for students is China. The Chinese want American college degrees; and American colleges want diversity, not to mention students who can pay their own way.
But it’s not always an easy fit. Many Chinese hire agents to fill out their applications, write their essays – even their recommendations. The result – a growing population of Chinese students struggling to fit in, and a growing number of colleges struggling to fit them in.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Windows Phone sales drop?
Windows Phone sales drop precipitously, says Gartner - Computerworld Blogs
At a time when Android phone sales have nearly tripled from a year ago, iPhone sales continue to climb, and overall smartphone sales jumped 42%, the Windows Phone platform (formerly Windows Mobile) has done the seemingly impossible --- sold fewer phones in this quarter compared to a year ago
The numbers come from a survey by Gartner, looking at the third quarter of 2011, and comparing it to the same quarter a year ago. Overall, it found that smartphone sales worldwide were up 42% compared to a year ago, which makes the Windows Phone sales decline particularly alarming for Microsoft. Windows Phone sales dropped from 2.2 million a year ago to 1.7 million this quarter. Its market share declined from 2.7% to 1.5%. Android, meanwhile, had 60.5 million in sales for the quarter, up from 20.5 million a year ago. Its market share leaped from 25.3% to 52.5%. The iPhone sold 17.3 million in the quarter, versus 13.5 million a year ago. Its market share was 15%, down from 16.6% a year ago.
or
Surprise! Windows Phone gaining traction
Wikipedia: Usage share of operating systems, Mobile devices
iPhone Crowned New King Of The Enterprise
At a time when Android phone sales have nearly tripled from a year ago, iPhone sales continue to climb, and overall smartphone sales jumped 42%, the Windows Phone platform (formerly Windows Mobile) has done the seemingly impossible --- sold fewer phones in this quarter compared to a year ago
The numbers come from a survey by Gartner, looking at the third quarter of 2011, and comparing it to the same quarter a year ago. Overall, it found that smartphone sales worldwide were up 42% compared to a year ago, which makes the Windows Phone sales decline particularly alarming for Microsoft. Windows Phone sales dropped from 2.2 million a year ago to 1.7 million this quarter. Its market share declined from 2.7% to 1.5%. Android, meanwhile, had 60.5 million in sales for the quarter, up from 20.5 million a year ago. Its market share leaped from 25.3% to 52.5%. The iPhone sold 17.3 million in the quarter, versus 13.5 million a year ago. Its market share was 15%, down from 16.6% a year ago.
or
Surprise! Windows Phone gaining traction
Wikipedia: Usage share of operating systems, Mobile devices
iPhone Crowned New King Of The Enterprise
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Dart (programming language)
Dart (programming language) @ Wikipedia
Dart (originally called Dash)[2] is a Web programming language developed by Google. It was unveiled at the GOTO conference in Aarhus, 2011 October 10-12.[3] The goal of Dart is "ultimately to replace JavaScript as the lingua franca of web development on the open web platform."[2]
Dart is intended to solve JavaScript's problems (which, according to a leaked memo, cannot be solved by evolving the language) while offering better performance, the ability "to be more easily tooled for large-scale projects" and better security features.[2] Google engineers are developing a cloud-based IDE called Brightly, which will perhaps be the first Dart application. Google will offer a cross compiler that compiles Dart to ECMAScript 3 on the fly, for compatibility with non-Dart browsers. There will also be a facility to convert typed Closure code to Dart.[4] Google will also integrate a native VM into Chrome and encourage competitors to do the same with their browsers. The Dart VM and Dart Cross Compiler could be available in late 2011.
www.dartlang.org
delicious.com/dragansr/dart
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
node.js for IIS
podcast:
Tomasz Janczuk Builds Web Apps with node.js - .NET Rocks!
Node.js is all about building scalable network programs, typically using HTTP. Tomasz (Microsoft dev manager) talks about how node.js can run as a standalone application that can completely replace a web server, as well as run within IIS as iisnode. iisnode is an implemenation of node.js as a native IIS module.
Tomasz Janczuk Builds Web Apps with node.js - .NET Rocks!Node.js is all about building scalable network programs, typically using HTTP. Tomasz (Microsoft dev manager) talks about how node.js can run as a standalone application that can completely replace a web server, as well as run within IIS as iisnode. iisnode is an implemenation of node.js as a native IIS module.
NoSQL "real deal" MongoDB
Production Deployments - MongoDB
MongoDB (from "humongous")
is a scalable, high-performance, open source, document-oriented database.
Written in C++.
MongoDB (from "humongous")
is a scalable, high-performance, open source, document-oriented database.
Written in C++.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Nine Things Successful People Do Differently
Nine Things Successful People Do Differently - Heidi Grant Halvorson - Harvard Business Review1. Get specific.
2. Seize the moment to act on your goals.
3. Know exactly how far you have left to go.
4. Be a realistic optimist.
5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good.
6. Have grit.
7. Build your willpower muscle.
8. Don't tempt fate.
9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do.
9Things_Successful_People_Do.pdf
"Race Against The Machine"
Amazon.com: Race Against The Machine: How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy eBook: Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee (both MIT): Kindle Store
podcast @ OnPoint
"Race Against the Machine is a portrait of the digital world - a world where competition, labor and leadership are less important than collaboration, creativity and networks." - Nicholas Negroponte
"We're entering unknown territory in the quest to reduce labor costs. The AI revolution is doing to white collar jobs what robotics did to blue collar jobs. Race Against the Machine is a bold effort to make sense of the future of work. No one else is doing serious thinking about a force that will lead to a restructuring of the economy that is more profound and far-reaching than the transition from the agricultural to the industrial age. Brynjolfsson and McAfee have hit the ball out of the park on this one. It's a book anyone concerned with either business, or more broadly, the future of our society, simply must read." - Tim O'Reilly
"This is, quite simply, the best book yet written on the interaction of digital technology, employment and organization. Race Against the Machine is meticulously researched, sobering, practical and, ultimately, hopeful. It is an extremely important contribution to the debate about how we ensure that every human being benefits from the digital revolution that is still gathering speed. If you read only one book on technology in the next 12 months, it should be this one." -Gary Hamel
podcast @ OnPoint
"Race Against the Machine is a portrait of the digital world - a world where competition, labor and leadership are less important than collaboration, creativity and networks." - Nicholas Negroponte
"We're entering unknown territory in the quest to reduce labor costs. The AI revolution is doing to white collar jobs what robotics did to blue collar jobs. Race Against the Machine is a bold effort to make sense of the future of work. No one else is doing serious thinking about a force that will lead to a restructuring of the economy that is more profound and far-reaching than the transition from the agricultural to the industrial age. Brynjolfsson and McAfee have hit the ball out of the park on this one. It's a book anyone concerned with either business, or more broadly, the future of our society, simply must read." - Tim O'Reilly
"This is, quite simply, the best book yet written on the interaction of digital technology, employment and organization. Race Against the Machine is meticulously researched, sobering, practical and, ultimately, hopeful. It is an extremely important contribution to the debate about how we ensure that every human being benefits from the digital revolution that is still gathering speed. If you read only one book on technology in the next 12 months, it should be this one." -Gary Hamel
Sunday, November 06, 2011
Apple: 4% market = 52% profit
Apple, With 4 Percent of Handset Market, Captures 52 Percent of Profits | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
Samsung's margins of 17 percent on its handsets were dwarfed by Apple's 35 percent margins for the quarter. So while Samsung did capture a healthy 29 percent of operating profits in the third quarter, Apple was king with 52 percent of the profits available to handset makers from July to September
Samsung's margins of 17 percent on its handsets were dwarfed by Apple's 35 percent margins for the quarter. So while Samsung did capture a healthy 29 percent of operating profits in the third quarter, Apple was king with 52 percent of the profits available to handset makers from July to September
Saturday, November 05, 2011
HTML5 Canvas (in HTML5 :)
This presentation is "special"...
it is a "pure HTML5"... Really nice...
HTML5 Canvas
@InfoQ
http://corehtml5canvas.com
@amazon
it is a "pure HTML5"... Really nice...
HTML5 Canvas
@InfoQ
http://corehtml5canvas.com
@amazon
Remembering The Father Of Artificial Intelligence
Remembering The Father Of Artificial Intelligence : NPR
John McCarthy, the computer scientist who coined the term "artificial intelligence" in 1955, died Monday at age 84
John McCarthy (computer scientist) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John McCarthy (September 4, 1927 – October 24, 2011) was an American computer scientist and cognitive scientist. He coined the term "artificial intelligence" (AI), invented the Lisp programming language and was highly influential in the early development of AI.
I try to include a related photo and links to each post,
and this one is quite useful: an online (free) book about Lisp programming language
Practical Common Lisp
Lisp books
John McCarthy, the computer scientist who coined the term "artificial intelligence" in 1955, died Monday at age 84
John McCarthy (computer scientist) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John McCarthy (September 4, 1927 – October 24, 2011) was an American computer scientist and cognitive scientist. He coined the term "artificial intelligence" (AI), invented the Lisp programming language and was highly influential in the early development of AI.
I try to include a related photo and links to each post,
and this one is quite useful: an online (free) book about Lisp programming language
Practical Common Lisp
Lisp books
Friday, November 04, 2011
Mozilla Phone OS
Mozilla Devs to Test New Phone OS This Year | PCWorld: Boot to Gecko (B2G)
Mozilla announced the project, called Boot to Gecko (B2G), in July, describing it as an operating system for mobile devices that would run applications primarily on the Web.
Developers hope B2G will help solve a problem that has long plagued the mobile industry: Developers must rewrite apps for each operating system. The goal of B2G is to create a framework that would let applications run from the Web on any operating system, provided the OS supports B2G's technology.
... and the magic name is... HTML5 :)
Mozilla announced the project, called Boot to Gecko (B2G), in July, describing it as an operating system for mobile devices that would run applications primarily on the Web.
Developers hope B2G will help solve a problem that has long plagued the mobile industry: Developers must rewrite apps for each operating system. The goal of B2G is to create a framework that would let applications run from the Web on any operating system, provided the OS supports B2G's technology.
... and the magic name is... HTML5 :)
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Steve Jobs & Bill Gates
Microsoft News » Bill Gates Response To Steve Jobs On Windows Rip-Off Claim
...when Steve Jobs came to know that Bill Gates at Microsoft is developing a competing OS and Bill Gates visits Apple’s campus to talk with Steve as per his request.
Their meeting was in Jobs’s conference room, where Gates found himself surrounded by ten Apple employees who were eager to watch their boss assail him. Jobs didn’t disappoint his troops. “You’re ripping us off!” he shouted. “I trusted you, and now you’re stealing from us!” Gates just sat there coolly, looking Steve in the eye, before hurling back, in his squeaky voice, what became a classic zinger. “Well, Steve, I think there’s more than one way of looking at it. I think it’s more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.”
While concept of "GUI" was introduced by Xerox PARC in form of X-windows,
implementation in Apple Mac and Microsoft Windows are very different...
Original X-Windows is much better concept, but would not work on low-end computers.
Apple made it work, and Microsoft made it cheap.
20 years later, iPhone and iPad made mobile solutions work,
and Google Android is making it "fee" (and Microsoft is making money on patents :)
Fortune Magazine: exclusive excerpt from Walter Isaacson's new book, Steve Jobs
When Steve Met Bill: 'It was a kind of weird seduction visit'
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