Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X

Nexus 6P Vs Nexus 5X: What's The Difference? - Forbes
Nexus 5X (left) and NExus 6P (right) have very different styling - Image credit Google
Nexus 6P (left) vs Nexus 5X (right) - proportionally correct size comparison. Image credit Google

The 9 most important things from Google's Nexus event | The Verge

Tesla Model X

Model X | Tesla Motors



First drive: Tesla Model X is an awesome way to spend $132,000



Tesla Model X first drive photos | The Verge

Tesla model x launch 003 2040.0

Windows Containers vs. Hyper-V Containers

The differences between Windows Containers and Hyper-V Containers in Windows Server 2016 | Windows Server 2016 content from Windows IT Pro

"Windows containers work the same was as Linux containers. Each containerized application runs in its own user-mode, isolated container on a shared host operating system.
...
There are two challenges with this approach that may cause a problem in certain environments.
  1. Not enough isolation since the isolation is at user-mode meaning a shared kernel. In a single tenant environment where applications can be trusted this is not a problem but in a multi-tenant environment a bad tenant may try to use the shared kernel to attack other containers.
  2. There is a dependency on the host OS version and even patch level which may cause problems if a patch is deployed to the host which then breaks the application.
This is where Hyper-V containers can be used. Hyper-V containers use the base image defined for the application and automatically creates a Hyper-V VM using that base image. Inside that VM are the various binaries, libraries and the application inside a Windows container -- and that is a critical point. Hyper-V containers are still using Windows containers within the VM. The only difference is the Windows container is now running inside a Hyper-V VM which provides kernel isolation and separation of the host patch/version lev
el from that used by the application."

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Microsoft AzureCon 2015

AzureCon 2015 | Microsoft Azure
streamed online 



cloud: Apache Mesos, Mesosphere DOS @ Azure


Mesos Logo

Apache Mesos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apache Mesos is an open-source cluster manager that was developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It "provides efficient resource isolation and sharing across distributed applications, or frameworks".[1] The software enables resource sharing in a fine-grained manner, improving cluster utilization.

Since being developed at UC Berkeley, it has been adopted by several large software companies, including Twitter,Airbnb and Apple. At least 50 organizations currently use Mesos


Introducing The Mesosphere Datacenter Operating System

Mesosphere DCOS on Microsoft Azure - Mesosphere

Mesosphere - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



New Azure Container Service to bring together Mesos, Docker and Azure cloud | ZDNet




Sunday, September 27, 2015

Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse

Go Out and Observe the Moon! @ ScienceFriday
a supermoon total lunar eclipse on September 27–28, 2015

Next one: in 2033



September 27 / September 28, 2015 — Total Lunar Eclipse – Where and when to see

Eclipses visible in New York, New York, U.S.A. - Sep 28, 2015 Lunar Eclipse

Blood moon (supermoon) lunar eclipse 2015 live stream, feed: NASA, Slooh coverage online | AL.com

NASA TV to Provide Live Feed of Sunday’s Supermoon Eclipse | NASA

News about @NASA_Marshall on Twitter

cloud: Amazon AWS EC2 Container Service: ECS

Introduction to EC2 Container Service
"EC2 Container Service (ECS) is a new service from Amazon Web Services (AWS).
ECS is aimed at making it easier to work with Docker containers, providing a clustering and orchestration layer for controlling the deployment of your containers onto hosts, and the subsequent management of the containers lifecycle within a cluster.

ECS is an alternative to tools such as Docker Swarm, Kubernetes or Mesos. It operates at the same layer, but is provided as a service. The difference is that whereas you need to setup and administer those tools yourself, ECS provides it for you ‘as a service’."



"...the golang code the for ECS agent is available as open source ..."



How many acronyms it take to describe a service :)

Visualization tools are quickly evolving, and soon all computing devices, including phones, may have visualized environment for apps.
There is also an opportunity for an new abstraction layer on top of operating systems...

It will be interesting to see GoLang vs PowerShell usage on Azure
(Almost) everything on Windows is managed by PowerShell now,
and apparently Go Lang is now preferred choice on Linux, and it can run on Windows...

Changing Windows User Account Name

How To Change User Account Name In Windows 8
Press Windows Key + R combination and then type netplwiz in the Run dialog box. Click OK.
If prompted for 
UAC, click Yes.
Change-User-Name-Windows-8

...

Clouds (IaaS) Magic Quadrant

Azure vs. Amazon AWS - Datamation

azure vs. amazon aws, Gartner

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Will Go Lang "Dominate" the Next Decade?

Go Will Dominate the Next Decade | Ian Eyberg | LinkedIn
Go Will Dominate the Next Decade
"Go is the New JVM
It's very clear that Go is replacing the JVM and .Net as the de-facto enterprise language of choice.
For instance pretty much every Scala shop I've talked to in SF is migrating to Go a bit at a time. Many shops in Europe are doing the same."

"Go will make your team 10X more productive."


If Go could be used for mobile and IoT apps, yes, it could "dominate"...
Otherwise JavaScript VM already is...

If all else fails, there is already a compiler from Go Lang to JavaScript :)
gopherjs/gopherjs · GitHub
Even games are fast enough in the browser, translated from Go to JavaScript
Enj by ajhager

Comparing Go and .NET // Justin Beckwith

Some Go Lang resources:

Go: Getting Started – Pluralsight Training
Mike Van Sickle – Pluralsight author

Suggested Editor: Atom
packages: go-plus  terminal-panel atom-terminal
a background service for auto-completion: nsf/gocode · GitHub

How to Write Go Code - The Go Programming Language
Writing, building, installing, and testing Go code - YouTube

fast big data: ScyllaDB (C++) = 10x Cassandra (Java)

Apache Cassandra NoSQL Database Rewritten in C++, Is 10 Times Faster - Softpedia
"...The Cassandra project was created in Facebook's offices by one of the people who later went on to help Amazon build DynamoDB, another NoSQL database.
...
Cassandra is written in Java, which is quite different from most other NoSQL databases like MongoDB and Redis, which are written in C++ and/or C.

This particularity is what drove developers to start work on ScyllaDB, creating a unique C++ framework called Seastar to help them port the Java code to a new async-based architecture that in the end has yielded a spectacular boost in performance.

According to ScyllaDB's creators, the database can handle 1 million transactions per second per server, is fully compatible with Cassandra, and can be dropped in without any modifications to the underlying code.

source: ScyllaDB and Seastar have been open-sourced and are available on GitHub."


Scylla DB
"Fully compatible with Apache Cassandra at 10x the throughput"


"Scylla operates at a lower level than Cassandra. It is written in C++14, and is built using GCC 5.1
...Scylla is not yet available, though the authors are hoping to reach general availability in January 2016"


Friday, September 25, 2015

video streaming: (Amazon) Twitch vs (Google) YouTube

YouTube and Twitch are battling for the future of online video - Fortune
"(Twitch) new features... will include the ability to archive video and to create playlists...

...
Twitch had something YouTube didn’t: It was an early adopter in the streaming market, and in particular it latched onto a growing interest in watching other people play video games.
For a younger generation, watching live e-sports competitions on Twitch — or even just watching someone play a specially modified version of Minecraft — is like an older generation’s Monday Night Football. Twitch now has more than 100 million monthly visitors, and close to 2 million live broadcasters.

That’s why Amazon paid about $1 billion to acquire the company last year..."


Azure provides video streaming platform, so making a similar service would be quite easy.
So where are Azure based video services? It is time for something like that, preferably with 4K videos...

4K resolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


List of 4K video recording devices - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Media Services - Audio & video streaming | Microsoft Azure

4K? For what? iPhone 6S camera ushers ultra-high resolution into mainstream - CNET


Facebook Internet Drones

A Facebook Project to Beam Data From Drones Is a Step Closer to Flight - The New York Times



podcast discussion: Quentin Hardy on Facebook’s drones - O'Reilly Radar

"Facebook’s Aquila drone project, which promises to extend Internet access to remote parts of the globe — and to advance a slew of aerospace and communication technologies through open sourcing."


Tuesday, September 22, 2015

"Zone" Focus@Will Music To Boost Concentration and Focus

Focus@Will - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Focus@Will is a neuroscience based subscription service that uses phase sequenced playlists of instrumental music designed to improve users’ productivity."
Music To Boost Concentration and Focus - Focus@Will Music for concentration
"Listen Free.
On mobile, tablet or computer, listen to multiple music channels scientifically optimized to increase concentration and productivity. Listen FREE now with our 15 day trial no credit card required. Get focused now!
Track Your Focus For the past week with our automated productivity tracker.
Use Our Productivity Tracker to record your productivity and customize your sound sessions. Find out what types of music and energy level settings keep you most focused and productive so you can personalize for your cognitive type and biorhythms."






https://www.focusatwill.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/White-Paper-on-Focus@Will-Reading-Research.pdf

mentioned in: Salim Ismail - Disruption - YouTube

Top 100 Exponential Organizations


Top Exponential Organizations :: Powered by Rokk3r Labs
"The business world has learned over the last two decades how to scale technology – now it’s time to scale the organization. A new breed of Exponential Organizations (or ExOs) are delivering 10x or better performance benchmarks compared to their peers. We present below the 100 most scalable organizations in the world, based on the diagnostic survey in the award-winning book, “Exponential Organizations”.

    

ideas: Open Innovation, Quirky

Open innovation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Technology adoption lifecycle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Innovation leadership - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies In The Internet Of Things | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

Is This the World's Most Creative Manufacturer? | Inc.com

Quirky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quirky logo15.png

About Quirky | Quirky
"We make invention accessible. We believe the best ideas in the world aren't actually in the world, they're locked inside people's heads. We exist to solve that problem."



Sunday, September 20, 2015

Visualization: "Tree of Life"

A very clever visualization of (evolutionary) branching overt time.
By making it a circle it takes much less space and is more appealing.
Nice idea.

Scientists create the first digital 'tree of life' - CSMonitor.com

Saturday, September 19, 2015

PolyBase: SQL Server 2016 + Hadoop + Azure Storage

Next version of SQL server includes integration with storage and processing in Hadoop,
as well as with Azure Storage, all from same T-SQL.
One can even do JOIN with those external storage. Interesting.

PolyBase in SQL Server 2016 | Data Exposed | Channel 9



Top 7 Features Coming to SQL Server 2016 -- Redmondmag.com

Books Online for SQL Server 2016

Friday, September 18, 2015

Visualizing Graphs in JavaScript + WebGL or SVG

CodeChat 039 - Andrei Kashcha Visualizes the Package Stores | CodeChat | Channel 9
"Andrei made something awesome. First he pulled all of the data from a few popular package managers online. I'm talking about package managers for .NET, Ruby, Go, Node.js, and more. Then he used WebGL and JavaScript to render a 3D virtual star field depicting the packages and their relationships to each other..."

Code Galaxies Visualization
JavaScript + WebGL visualizing really large graphs,
hundreds of thousands of nodes and edges.
Author's intent: visualize the whole web!

Go Search  Bower

anvaka (Andrei Kashcha) @ GitHub

anvaka/VivaGraphJS
"VivaGraphJS is the fastest graph drawing javascript library (proof). It is designed to be extensible and to support different rendering engines and layout algorithms. Underlying modules can be found via ngraph query. Some examples of library usage in the real projects:

Windows 10 Memory Compression

Windows 10 comes with a very clever way of handling memory,
to reduce need to use paging when physical memory is not sufficient for applications.
When additional memory space is needed, memory is first compressed.
Performance and power usage is significantly better than classic method with HDD only.

This feature was developed for Windows 7 for using external USB memory,
improved for Windows 8.1 for "store apps", and in Windows 10 it applies for all apps.

Memory Compression in Windows 10 RTM | Seth Juarez | Channel 9

Thursday, September 17, 2015

NativeScript: portable mobile development

NativeScript

Open source platform created by Telerik, that is using JavaScript for "business logic",
XML to define interface (converted to native GUI controls by runtime),
and CSS for styling the GUI (again converted to native GUI)

Portable runtimes are available for iOS, Android and Windows,
and TypeScript could be used instead of JavaScript.
Command line tools are free, and Telerik provides many online services to help testing, deployment, etc.

Claimed tested performance is around 7% slower than pure "native" Swift code,
and that is similar to Xamarin. Runtime included with each app is a few MB.

Other similar platforms include Appcelerator Titanium and React Native

podcast interview: Understanding NativeScript with Sam Basu @ .NET Rocks!


Wednesday, September 16, 2015

IoT Cloud by SalesForce (!)

Internet of Things (IoT) Platform & Software - Salesforce.com

Salesforce wants to dominate Internet of Things, Benioff says in keynote
“With the Internet of Things, I’m more connected than ever,” Benioff told the crowd at the city’s Moscone Center, channeling a bit of Steve Jobs’ mojo as he acted as combination emcee and company cheerleader. “It’s truly a customer revolution.”

With services such as Salesforce IQ for Small Business and a new Internet of Things Cloud, whose launch partner is Microsoft, Benioff made clear his intent to drive new customers to Salesforce by promising real-time data analytics in a world where consumers expect personalized experiences from their favorite companies."


Microsoft and Salesforce cozy up at Dreamforce conference

Microsoft and Cisco Early Users of Salesforce.com’s IoT Cloud - The CIO Report - WSJ

Microsoft, Salesforce extend ongoing partnership | ZDNet

Microsoft to invest $75 million in computer science education - Fortune
"Microsoft is investing $75 million over a three-year period to help make computer science more mainstream in schools. Microsoft plans to give $75 million to nonprofits that can spread computer science education throughout the world, CEO Satya Nadella said on Wednesday during Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco....."

IoT Fluid Service with Salesforce Platform, Heroku, Salesforce1 & Arduino - YouTube


​How Salesforce went open source for its Thunder Internet of things cloud | ZDNet
"Thunder, the scalable processing engine behind Salesforce's Internet of things (IoT) Cloud, took about a year to complete and is powered by four open source platforms used for big data analytics.

Adam Bosworth, executive vice president at Salesforce, gave us an overview of how Thunder processes the data coming in from multiple devices and end points and then surfaces it in the Salesforce user interface.

...
To build Thunder, Bosworth's plan was to use proven open source technologies used for big data and allow Salesforce to be the user interface for the platform. By eliminating that user interface build--or last mile delivery issue--Salesforce could roll out Thunder faster. The four primary technologies behind Thunder include:
  • Spark, a general engine for large-scale data processing that's designed to be faster than Hadoop and MapReduce.
  • Storm, an open source distributed real-time computation system to process streams of data. Storm was initially contributed by Twitter.
  • Kafka, an Apache project and a messaging broker that can handle megabytes of reads and writes per second. Kafka came out of LinkedIn.
  • Cassandra, a highly scalable open source database that's deployed in enterprises such as Apple, Instagram and Netflix to name a few. Cassandra is known to outperform NoSQL.
  • Heroku, Salesforce's platform-as-a-service."


book: Exponential Organizations (& S-curves) (!)

podcast interview: Salim Ismail on Exponential Organizations @ singularityweblog

"Salim has spent the last six years building Singularity University as its founding Executive Director and current Global Ambassador. SU is based at NASA Ames and is training a new generation of leaders to manage exponentially growing technologies."


book: Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it): Salim Ismail, Michael S. Malone, Yuri van Geest, Peter H. Diamandis: 9781626814233: Amazon.com: Books
Exponential Organizations

book's web site: Exponential Organizations

"An Exponential Organization (ExO) is one whose impact (or output) is disproportionally large — at least 10x larger — compared to its peers because of the use of new organizational techniques that leverage exponential technologies.
...
Our organizational structures have evolved mainly to manage scarcity of people, money and assets / resources. The concept of ownership works well for scarcity Accessing or sharing works better in an abundant, information-based world."

Massive Transformative Purpose, or MTP—the higher, aspirational purpose of the organization. Every ExO we know has one. Some aim to transform the planet, others just an industry. But radical transformation is the name of the game.

Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it): O'Reilly - Safari Books Online




Top (100) Exponential Organizations :: Powered by Rokk3r Labs

Exponential Organizations Quotes by Salim Ismail


Market Cap to a Billion


It's not exponential, it's sigmoidal - O'Reilly Radar by Tim O'Reilly
exponential vs. linear and cubic curvessigmoidal curve

"... all that talk about the exponential growth of various web sites.
Don’t people realize that those curves are actually sigmoidal?”...

These curves look exponential but eventually they do flatten out. In fact, one of the most important sigmoidal functions is the logistic function,"

"A logistic function or logistic curve is a common "S" shape (sigmoid curve), with equation:"

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Windows 10 API Samples

Raymond's Windows Universal Samples API concordance - The Old New Thing - Site Home - MSDN Blogs by Raymond Chen

"If you want to find an SDK sample that uses a particular feature of the Universal Windows Platform, you can try ... Windows Universal Samples API concordance on http://oldnewthing.github.io/Windows-universal-samples/. Expand the tree view to find the thing you're interested in, and it will provide links to every line of C# code that uses it."

link from:
TWC9: Surface Enterprise, Office on iPad Pro, VP9 on Edge and more... | This Week On Channel 9 | Channel 9


Microsoft Surface by Dell, HP, Office for iPad Pro

New, pragmatic, Microsoft: collaborating with HP and Dell to sell Surface to enterprise customers, and with Apple to provide optimal Office experience on new iPad Pro.

New Surface Enterprise Initiative Will Further Windows 10 Adoption | Blogging Windows

Office updates for the iPad Pro, iOS 9 and WatchOS 2 - Office Blogs

Office updates for the iPad 4

Outlook and Translator on Apple Watch....
Office updates for the iPad 6Office updates for the iPad 8 - 2


Monday, September 14, 2015

Node.js v4.0.0 stable release

A good news for "full stack" web development and IoT

Node v4.0.0 (Stable) | Node.js
2015-09-08
"Node.js project and the io.js project that are now combined in a single codebase
...
Node.js v4.0.0 contains V8 v4.5, the same version of V8 shipping with the Chrome web browser today. This brings with it many bonuses for Node.js users, most notably a raft of new ES6 features that are enabled by default including block scoping, classes, typed arrays (Node's Buffer is now backed by Uint8Array), generators, Promises, Symbols, template strings, collections (Map, Set, etc.) and, new to V8 v4.5, arrow functions."



ideas: "Pace Layers Thinking" by Stewart Brand, Paul Saffo

Stewart Brand, Paul Saffo: Pace Layers Thinking - The Long Now
"In 01999 “Pace Layers” made its debut in the book The Clock of Long Now by Stewart Brand as a deceptively simple diagram consisting of six lines, six arrows and six words with the caption:
"The order of civilization. The fast layers innovate; the slow layers stabilize. The whole combines learning with continuity."
Pace layering from "The Clock of the Long Now" by Stewart Brand

Pace Layers Thinking: Paul Saffo and Stewart Brand @ The Interval — January 27, 02015 — Blog of the Long Now

From Evernote event