The cell phone is becoming TRULY the ubiquitous computing device as IEEE Pervasive Computing has reported. It's like becoming the swiss army knife of mobile computing. First you had the addition of text messaging on top of basic voice service, then web browsing, then mobile applications that run locally, integrating a camera into the cell phone, integrating video into the cell phone, putting an MP3 player like the Motorola ROKR, putting Bluetooth wireless technology, putting Wi-Fi. Now, you can add scanning to that list according to this article.
Do I really want my cell phone to do a multitude of tasks, or have separate devices that do a specific task well? That is the ultimate question which differentiates the products out there. I've certainly asked this question before many times. Currently, I carry multiple devices like my iPod mini for music, Palm as my PDA and camera, cell phone for making mobile calls and SMS. Would I like to have all this in one device? Sure, but the problem is battery life, and that if there is a problem with the device, all the functions render useless while that device is being repaired. I wouldn't have that problem with multiple devices. So, it's a trade off.
To me, I still like multiple devices, hey I'm GadgetMan!
Friday, March 31, 2006
Cell phone scanners
The cell phone is becoming TRULY the ubiquitous computing device as IEEE Pervasive Computing has reported. It's like becoming the swiss army knife of mobile computing. First you had the addition of text messaging on top of basic voice service, then web browsing, then mobile applications that run locally, integrating a camera into the cell phone, integrating video into the cell phone, putting an MP3 player like the Motorola ROKR, putting Bluetooth wireless technology, putting Wi-Fi. Now, you can add scanning to that list according to this article.
Do I really want my cell phone to do a multitude of tasks, or have separate devices that do a specific task well? That is the ultimate question which differentiates the products out there. I've certainly asked this question before many times. Currently, I carry multiple devices like my iPod mini for music, Palm as my PDA and camera, cell phone for making mobile calls and SMS. Would I like to have all this in one device? Sure, but the problem is battery life, and that if there is a problem with the device, all the functions render useless while that device is being repaired. I wouldn't have that problem with multiple devices. So, it's a trade off.
To me, I still like multiple devices, hey I'm GadgetMan!
Do I really want my cell phone to do a multitude of tasks, or have separate devices that do a specific task well? That is the ultimate question which differentiates the products out there. I've certainly asked this question before many times. Currently, I carry multiple devices like my iPod mini for music, Palm as my PDA and camera, cell phone for making mobile calls and SMS. Would I like to have all this in one device? Sure, but the problem is battery life, and that if there is a problem with the device, all the functions render useless while that device is being repaired. I wouldn't have that problem with multiple devices. So, it's a trade off.
To me, I still like multiple devices, hey I'm GadgetMan!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
The new video iPod
Don't get your hopes up quite yet, but there are rumours of a new video iPod, not the iPod with video. CNet has an article here and fake letter to Steve Jobs to design the next generation video iPod. So, what should the next video iPod be? Should it have Bluetooth, should it have more PDA functionality? I think adding more functionality will decrease the simplicity of the iPod. The reason that the iPod was and is still successful, is because it was designed for a specific purpose. Once you create a multi-purpose device, it's pretty difficult to be good in all compartments, you have to make a compromise.
Sick by Wi-Fi
There is an article here I've read about how Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Canada is not deploying wireless because the president is concerned about the health effects of RF radiation. There are no studies to show that Wi-Fi radio does affect the health of humans, although there have been contradictory studies to show that cellular signals can cause brain damage.
Well, me being a GadgetMan, and being a fan of wireless everywhere, I suppose there is a concern about that. But I think the effects are minimal, in my opinion. I mean, the wireless signals are not close to your head, I can understand the cellular phone maybe. But unless the wireless signals are penetrated into your head, I don't think that the wireless signals are not very intense and very very benign, that it won't cause any health problems. Although, I'm not a biologist, per se. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Well, me being a GadgetMan, and being a fan of wireless everywhere, I suppose there is a concern about that. But I think the effects are minimal, in my opinion. I mean, the wireless signals are not close to your head, I can understand the cellular phone maybe. But unless the wireless signals are penetrated into your head, I don't think that the wireless signals are not very intense and very very benign, that it won't cause any health problems. Although, I'm not a biologist, per se. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Andy Tanenbaum talk now!
I'm right now inside the Andy Tanenbaum talk. Andy just passed out CDs of his MINIX 3 secure OS and I just got one.
He is now talking about Myhrvold's Laws, which is based from Nathan Myhrvold:
- software is a gas, it expands to fill the container
He is talking about software bloat comparing the lines of source code for Windows NT 3.1 all the way to Windows XP, and how it would fit a bookcase if the source code were printed out and bound in a book. Comparing to the real world, computer OSes are still not reliable and easy to use. An example of this is that there was a newspaper article where a PhD in Computer Science couldn't fix his computer and instead threw it out!
The computers have not gotten to the point where it is like the Television Model where you buy a TV, plug it in, and then it works perfectly for 10 years. And then he compares it to the Computer Model where you have to install different pieces of software, and reboot the computer and it still doesn't work, then have to reinstall Windows!
THerefore, there is a need to rethink about operating systems. Software has gotten too bloated, slow and buggy. To achieve the TV model, OSes need to be small, simple, modular, reliable, secure, self-healing. Andy's research is to achieve these goals.
He created MINIX and it was released in 1987. Therefore need intelligent design for OSes. The microkernel for MINIX 3 has 4000 lines of code (LoC), and has 40 kernel bugs compared to 25,000 bugs for Linux, low interrupt latency (10 microsec), it is highly modular and runs as multiple user-mode processes.
This is the architecture of MINIX 3:
Bottom layer: Clock and Sys, microkernel handles interrupts, processes, scheduling, IPC
Next layer: Driver
Next layer: Server
Next layer: User
What Andy is talking about with interprocess communication gives deja vu back to me about the OS course I took in Waterloo like almost maybe 10 years ago. Now, he is talking about the kernel architecture. The kernel supports processes and IPC communication and rendezvous principle (no buffering or extra copying). The IPC communication uses the user process, server process and the driver process. So, the kernel calls for servers and drivers. The file system or driver can only write into memory that it is designated for, there is no competition for memory or shared memory, just like with Windows where applications crash because it tries to use more memory which is being used by another application or process.
For the process manager, there may not be demand paging in the OS because we now have 1GB of memory, not like the VAX machine days. Andy debates whether there is a need for demand paging anymore because of the abundant memory we have now. Everything that I've heard seems standard as an OS architecture, what's new is this Reincarnation server which is the parent of all the drivers and servers. When the driver or server dies, then run shell script, logs what happens and collects it. This is for recovery if a process crashes so it doesn't crash the OS like Windows or Linux does. So the reincarnation server pings the drivers and servers frequently. He said he wants to rename this to the Dick Cheney server. (Audience laughs)
If need to restore the disk driver, then keep a copy of disk driver in memory so that if the disk driver is dead, then can recover.
If other drivers crash, like for example the Ethernet driver, then just restart it because TCP takes care of lost packets. For kernel security and reliability, because there are fewer LoC, then this means fewer kernel bugs and reduced trusted computing platform. Once the kernel is stable, don't change it and add more code, otherwise introduce more bugs, so move the bugs to user space. If have separate instruction and data space, then provides protection against buffer overflows. All data structures are static, there is no dynamic memory therefore no chance for errors, there is no malloc in kernel.
For IPC reliability and security, MINIX 3 uses fixed length messages so this prevents buffer overruns, the rendezvous system is simple, the interrupts and messages are unified. There is deadlock prevention that prevents loops. Assume that the drivers don't work and are untrusted, so they are heavily isolated so they won't screw up the system. The drivers cannot touch kernel data structures, infinite loops are detected and the driver is restarted.
For security, each driver and server has a security policy and this is enforced by the kernel. Now, he is talking about the story about the devil and the nerd, where if the devil offers a Faustian bargain: "I'll give you twice the speed and twice the crashes". The nerd will say "Thank you, Mr. Devil. I'll take it". Nontechnical users would never accept it. CS people are always concerned about system performance. It takes about 4 seconds to build the entire operating system. They use their own compiler to compile the modules. Killing the driver once per second, causes 9% performance loss (from 11 Mbps to 8 Mbps), so there is a performance loss but you get more reliability. It's a tradeoff like he repeatedly said.
The logo for MINIX 3 is a raccoon because it's small, cute, clever, agile, eats bugs, and more likely to visit your house than a penguin. (Audience laughs)
The website is http://www.minix3.org.
He now giving a commercial about a topmasters program for graduate students to apply for.
I got Andy Tanenbaum to sign my copy of the Computer Networks textbook, Third Edition!
He is now talking about Myhrvold's Laws, which is based from Nathan Myhrvold:
- software is a gas, it expands to fill the container
He is talking about software bloat comparing the lines of source code for Windows NT 3.1 all the way to Windows XP, and how it would fit a bookcase if the source code were printed out and bound in a book. Comparing to the real world, computer OSes are still not reliable and easy to use. An example of this is that there was a newspaper article where a PhD in Computer Science couldn't fix his computer and instead threw it out!
The computers have not gotten to the point where it is like the Television Model where you buy a TV, plug it in, and then it works perfectly for 10 years. And then he compares it to the Computer Model where you have to install different pieces of software, and reboot the computer and it still doesn't work, then have to reinstall Windows!
THerefore, there is a need to rethink about operating systems. Software has gotten too bloated, slow and buggy. To achieve the TV model, OSes need to be small, simple, modular, reliable, secure, self-healing. Andy's research is to achieve these goals.
He created MINIX and it was released in 1987. Therefore need intelligent design for OSes. The microkernel for MINIX 3 has 4000 lines of code (LoC), and has 40 kernel bugs compared to 25,000 bugs for Linux, low interrupt latency (10 microsec), it is highly modular and runs as multiple user-mode processes.
This is the architecture of MINIX 3:
Bottom layer: Clock and Sys, microkernel handles interrupts, processes, scheduling, IPC
Next layer: Driver
Next layer: Server
Next layer: User
What Andy is talking about with interprocess communication gives deja vu back to me about the OS course I took in Waterloo like almost maybe 10 years ago. Now, he is talking about the kernel architecture. The kernel supports processes and IPC communication and rendezvous principle (no buffering or extra copying). The IPC communication uses the user process, server process and the driver process. So, the kernel calls for servers and drivers. The file system or driver can only write into memory that it is designated for, there is no competition for memory or shared memory, just like with Windows where applications crash because it tries to use more memory which is being used by another application or process.
For the process manager, there may not be demand paging in the OS because we now have 1GB of memory, not like the VAX machine days. Andy debates whether there is a need for demand paging anymore because of the abundant memory we have now. Everything that I've heard seems standard as an OS architecture, what's new is this Reincarnation server which is the parent of all the drivers and servers. When the driver or server dies, then run shell script, logs what happens and collects it. This is for recovery if a process crashes so it doesn't crash the OS like Windows or Linux does. So the reincarnation server pings the drivers and servers frequently. He said he wants to rename this to the Dick Cheney server. (Audience laughs)
If need to restore the disk driver, then keep a copy of disk driver in memory so that if the disk driver is dead, then can recover.
If other drivers crash, like for example the Ethernet driver, then just restart it because TCP takes care of lost packets. For kernel security and reliability, because there are fewer LoC, then this means fewer kernel bugs and reduced trusted computing platform. Once the kernel is stable, don't change it and add more code, otherwise introduce more bugs, so move the bugs to user space. If have separate instruction and data space, then provides protection against buffer overflows. All data structures are static, there is no dynamic memory therefore no chance for errors, there is no malloc in kernel.
For IPC reliability and security, MINIX 3 uses fixed length messages so this prevents buffer overruns, the rendezvous system is simple, the interrupts and messages are unified. There is deadlock prevention that prevents loops. Assume that the drivers don't work and are untrusted, so they are heavily isolated so they won't screw up the system. The drivers cannot touch kernel data structures, infinite loops are detected and the driver is restarted.
For security, each driver and server has a security policy and this is enforced by the kernel. Now, he is talking about the story about the devil and the nerd, where if the devil offers a Faustian bargain: "I'll give you twice the speed and twice the crashes". The nerd will say "Thank you, Mr. Devil. I'll take it". Nontechnical users would never accept it. CS people are always concerned about system performance. It takes about 4 seconds to build the entire operating system. They use their own compiler to compile the modules. Killing the driver once per second, causes 9% performance loss (from 11 Mbps to 8 Mbps), so there is a performance loss but you get more reliability. It's a tradeoff like he repeatedly said.
The logo for MINIX 3 is a raccoon because it's small, cute, clever, agile, eats bugs, and more likely to visit your house than a penguin. (Audience laughs)
The website is http://www.minix3.org.
He now giving a commercial about a topmasters program for graduate students to apply for.
I got Andy Tanenbaum to sign my copy of the Computer Networks textbook, Third Edition!
Speeding up Bluetooth
The Bluetooth SIG just announced that they have partnered with the WiMedia alliance for the next version of Bluetooth so that it can support high data transfer rates. More details from the bulletin below:
After announcing a collaboration with the UWB industry in May last year, the Bluetooth SIG today announced its selection of the WiMedia Alliance multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) version of ultra-wideband (UWB) for integration with current Bluetooth wireless technology, thus taking the next step in its plan to create a version of Bluetooth with a high speed/high data rate option.
This new version of Bluetooth technology will meet the high-speed demands of synchronizing and transferring large amounts of data as well as enabling high quality video and audio applications for portable devices, multi-media projectors and television sets. At the same time, Bluetooth will continue catering to the needs of very low power applications such as mice, keyboards and mono headsets, enabling devices to select the most appropriate physical radio for the application requirements, thereby offering the best of both worlds.
The SIG’s announcement goes on to say that it is critical that the UWB technology be compatible with Bluetooth radios and maintain the core attributes of Bluetooth wireless technology – low power, low cost, ad-hoc networking, built-in security features, and ability to integrate into mobile devices. Backwards compatibility with the over 500 million Bluetooth devices currently on the market is also an important consideration. The Bluetooth SIG is apparently satisfied that MB-OFDM UWB technology, offered by the WiMedia Alliance, is capable of meeting all of these requirements, and said that the two organizations are dedicated to working together to ensure that the combined high-speed solution is optimized for mobile devices with very low power consumption.
One of the key components to the agreement between the Bluetooth SIG and the WiMedia Alliance will help UWB achieve global regulatory acceptance. Both parties have agreed to develop a high speed, high data rate Bluetooth solution that utilizes the unlicensed radio spectrum above 6 GHz. This move answers concerns voiced by regulatory bodies in both Europe and Asia
The Bluetooth SIG Core Specification Working Group Charter and UWB Feature Requirements Document (FRD) have been approved by the Bluetooth SIG Board of Directors, signalling that work may commence. The requirements set by the UWB study group in the UWB FRD define what has to be done to create a solution appropriate for adoption by the Bluetooth SIG. Both groups will immediately begin work together on the specification draft within the Bluetooth SIG Core Specification Working Group. The Bluetooth SIG estimates this process to last approximately one year, with the first Bluetooth technology/UWB solution chip sets available for prototyping in Q2 2007.
Will this mean that existing Bluetooth devices will be able to connect and transfer data with the high rate Bluetooth devices? I sure hope so, otherwise we have to replace the older devices. But that seems to be what the technology industry is doing, to make consumers buy more to replace older and obsolete technology. Bluetooth is now beginning to make inroads, you see Bluetooth integrated in almost all the newest phones now, and Wi-Fi is integrated in all laptops. I wonder if UWB will also be integrated in laptops and other mobile devices (probably for multimedia transfers like video camcorders and cameras would be a viable option).
After announcing a collaboration with the UWB industry in May last year, the Bluetooth SIG today announced its selection of the WiMedia Alliance multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) version of ultra-wideband (UWB) for integration with current Bluetooth wireless technology, thus taking the next step in its plan to create a version of Bluetooth with a high speed/high data rate option.
This new version of Bluetooth technology will meet the high-speed demands of synchronizing and transferring large amounts of data as well as enabling high quality video and audio applications for portable devices, multi-media projectors and television sets. At the same time, Bluetooth will continue catering to the needs of very low power applications such as mice, keyboards and mono headsets, enabling devices to select the most appropriate physical radio for the application requirements, thereby offering the best of both worlds.
The SIG’s announcement goes on to say that it is critical that the UWB technology be compatible with Bluetooth radios and maintain the core attributes of Bluetooth wireless technology – low power, low cost, ad-hoc networking, built-in security features, and ability to integrate into mobile devices. Backwards compatibility with the over 500 million Bluetooth devices currently on the market is also an important consideration. The Bluetooth SIG is apparently satisfied that MB-OFDM UWB technology, offered by the WiMedia Alliance, is capable of meeting all of these requirements, and said that the two organizations are dedicated to working together to ensure that the combined high-speed solution is optimized for mobile devices with very low power consumption.
One of the key components to the agreement between the Bluetooth SIG and the WiMedia Alliance will help UWB achieve global regulatory acceptance. Both parties have agreed to develop a high speed, high data rate Bluetooth solution that utilizes the unlicensed radio spectrum above 6 GHz. This move answers concerns voiced by regulatory bodies in both Europe and Asia
The Bluetooth SIG Core Specification Working Group Charter and UWB Feature Requirements Document (FRD) have been approved by the Bluetooth SIG Board of Directors, signalling that work may commence. The requirements set by the UWB study group in the UWB FRD define what has to be done to create a solution appropriate for adoption by the Bluetooth SIG. Both groups will immediately begin work together on the specification draft within the Bluetooth SIG Core Specification Working Group. The Bluetooth SIG estimates this process to last approximately one year, with the first Bluetooth technology/UWB solution chip sets available for prototyping in Q2 2007.
Will this mean that existing Bluetooth devices will be able to connect and transfer data with the high rate Bluetooth devices? I sure hope so, otherwise we have to replace the older devices. But that seems to be what the technology industry is doing, to make consumers buy more to replace older and obsolete technology. Bluetooth is now beginning to make inroads, you see Bluetooth integrated in almost all the newest phones now, and Wi-Fi is integrated in all laptops. I wonder if UWB will also be integrated in laptops and other mobile devices (probably for multimedia transfers like video camcorders and cameras would be a viable option).
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Andy Tanenbaum at U of T tomorrow!
Andy Tanenbaum, the author of the popular book Computer Networks,
which I used in my 4th year ECE428 Computer Networks course (and of which I still have), is giving a talk at U of T tomorrow! Got to go see this talk. Tanenbaum is like the king of OS and networks. Here are the details:
Title: MINIX 3: A Reliable and Secure Operating System
Abstract
--------
Operating systems are getting bigger and less reliable every year.
Studies have shown the number of bugs per line of code to be around 6-16
bugs per 1000 lines of code, so with Linux over 2.5 million lines of code,
the kernel probably contains at least 15,000 bugs, and Windows has far
more. Most of these bugs are in the device drivers. As long as we maintain
the current structure of the operating system as a huge single monolithic
program running in kernel mode, the situation will only get worse.
In an attempt to improve this situation, we have created a new
multiserver operating system with only 4000 lines in kernel and the rest
of the operating system split up into small rigidly controlled pieces,
each running as a user-mode process. The talk will discuss the
architecture of this system, called MINIX 3, and its reliability and
security properties.
Bio
----------------
Andrew S. Tanenbaum was born in New York City and raised in White
Plains, NY. He has an S.B.from M.I.T. and a Ph.D. from the University of
California at Berkeley. He is currently a Professor of Computer Science at
the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.
Prof. Tanenbaum is the principal designer of three operating systems:
TSS-11, Amoeba, and MINIX. TSS-11 was an early system for the PDP-11.
Amoeba is a distributed operating systems for SUN, VAX, and similar
workstation computers. MINIX is a small operating system designed for high
reliability and embedded applications as well as for teaching.
Tanenbaum is a Fellow of the ACM, a Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of
the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. In 1994 he was the recipient of the
ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award. In 1997 he won the ACM
SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science.
In addition, Tanenbaum is the author or coauthor of five books:
"Distributed Systems" (2002) (with Maarten van Steen) "Modern Operating
Systems 2/e" (2001) "Structured Computer Organization, 5/e" (2006)
"Operating Systems: Design and Implementation, 3/e", (2006) (with Albert
S. Woodhull) "Computer Networks, 4/e." (2003) These books have been
translated into 20 languages and are used all over the world. Tanenbaum
has also published more than 100 refereed papers on a variety of subjects
and has lectured in a dozen countries on many topics.
I'll be blogging about this tomorrow, provided that I am able to have wireless access in the room where it's being held. If not, I can always type the notes and then post them to the blog later. Of course, it won't be real-time though.
which I used in my 4th year ECE428 Computer Networks course (and of which I still have), is giving a talk at U of T tomorrow! Got to go see this talk. Tanenbaum is like the king of OS and networks. Here are the details:
Title: MINIX 3: A Reliable and Secure Operating System
Abstract
--------
Operating systems are getting bigger and less reliable every year.
Studies have shown the number of bugs per line of code to be around 6-16
bugs per 1000 lines of code, so with Linux over 2.5 million lines of code,
the kernel probably contains at least 15,000 bugs, and Windows has far
more. Most of these bugs are in the device drivers. As long as we maintain
the current structure of the operating system as a huge single monolithic
program running in kernel mode, the situation will only get worse.
In an attempt to improve this situation, we have created a new
multiserver operating system with only 4000 lines in kernel and the rest
of the operating system split up into small rigidly controlled pieces,
each running as a user-mode process. The talk will discuss the
architecture of this system, called MINIX 3, and its reliability and
security properties.
Bio
----------------
Andrew S. Tanenbaum was born in New York City and raised in White
Plains, NY. He has an S.B.from M.I.T. and a Ph.D. from the University of
California at Berkeley. He is currently a Professor of Computer Science at
the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.
Prof. Tanenbaum is the principal designer of three operating systems:
TSS-11, Amoeba, and MINIX. TSS-11 was an early system for the PDP-11.
Amoeba is a distributed operating systems for SUN, VAX, and similar
workstation computers. MINIX is a small operating system designed for high
reliability and embedded applications as well as for teaching.
Tanenbaum is a Fellow of the ACM, a Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of
the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. In 1994 he was the recipient of the
ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award. In 1997 he won the ACM
SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science.
In addition, Tanenbaum is the author or coauthor of five books:
"Distributed Systems" (2002) (with Maarten van Steen) "Modern Operating
Systems 2/e" (2001) "Structured Computer Organization, 5/e" (2006)
"Operating Systems: Design and Implementation, 3/e", (2006) (with Albert
S. Woodhull) "Computer Networks, 4/e." (2003) These books have been
translated into 20 languages and are used all over the world. Tanenbaum
has also published more than 100 refereed papers on a variety of subjects
and has lectured in a dozen countries on many topics.
I'll be blogging about this tomorrow, provided that I am able to have wireless access in the room where it's being held. If not, I can always type the notes and then post them to the blog later. Of course, it won't be real-time though.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Wi-Fi access at Starbucks on Queen and Bay
I just walked back to Union Station from school today seeing it was such a nice day, when I saw wireless hotspot access at a Starbucks coffee shop. So, being the Gadget Man as I am, I decided to go in and try it. I found like 16 different wireless networks, I tried the first one hotspot_bell, but it required a user name and password. The second one I tried, allowed me in. So now I am connected wireless in Toronto!
Finished reading Chapter 6 of Naked Conversations
Finally finished reading Chapter 6 of the Naked Conversations book. It's been taking a while, I haven't been reading it on a regular basis. I seem to start reading and then I'll be busy with something else, like my paper writing and my research, which will interrupt my flow. I'm so busy with so many things besides research, like planning the wedding, having to take care of family things, helping out my sister with her homework, going to learn Mandarin, going to bible study, that I just haven't found the time to read the book. But today, since I vowed to take a break from the paper writing on Friday, I decided to read the book, and I finished reading Chapter 6.
The book I've found so far, is not a heavy read, in fact it's very light reading compared to papers that I read for my research. Which, in essence, is a nice change. In fact, I don't like it when the papers that I read are so hard to read. It's like a whole new language. The papers should be clearly written and organized such that I don't have to decipher what the authors are trying to say.
Here's my notes and comments from Chapter 6.
The chapter basically talks about how consultants use blogs as part of their business and in fact how blogs have helped them with their business or even start their business. A lot of consultants get speaking engagements and have got publishers noticed them to write a book, because of their blog. People reading the blog then turn to their blogs as sources for expert knowledge. Consultants who blog, are open, they don't market their products or services, so what they speak is just as if they were to have a conversation with you or me. Their tone of language is down to earth, so people can relate to them on a personal and business level. Blogging is all about being yourself and not selling yourself like being a PR spokesperson. Just speak the truth, and no BS. Don't cover up yourself, be honest. People will appreciate much better your honesty, than if you try to pretend to sound good or try to be someone that you're not. This explains why Robert Scoble's blog get so many hits and blog readers, even though he works at Microsoft. He acknowledges Microsoft's problems and he talks from himself, not putting the hat of Microsoft. So people can relate to him, he doesn't try to show off his Microsoft identity.
The book I've found so far, is not a heavy read, in fact it's very light reading compared to papers that I read for my research. Which, in essence, is a nice change. In fact, I don't like it when the papers that I read are so hard to read. It's like a whole new language. The papers should be clearly written and organized such that I don't have to decipher what the authors are trying to say.
Here's my notes and comments from Chapter 6.
The chapter basically talks about how consultants use blogs as part of their business and in fact how blogs have helped them with their business or even start their business. A lot of consultants get speaking engagements and have got publishers noticed them to write a book, because of their blog. People reading the blog then turn to their blogs as sources for expert knowledge. Consultants who blog, are open, they don't market their products or services, so what they speak is just as if they were to have a conversation with you or me. Their tone of language is down to earth, so people can relate to them on a personal and business level. Blogging is all about being yourself and not selling yourself like being a PR spokesperson. Just speak the truth, and no BS. Don't cover up yourself, be honest. People will appreciate much better your honesty, than if you try to pretend to sound good or try to be someone that you're not. This explains why Robert Scoble's blog get so many hits and blog readers, even though he works at Microsoft. He acknowledges Microsoft's problems and he talks from himself, not putting the hat of Microsoft. So people can relate to him, he doesn't try to show off his Microsoft identity.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Paper finally submitted!
I just submitted another paper on finding community in blogs to a conference last night. Oh wow, what a ride this paper was. The paper was due 12 midnight, but the conference web site did not specify what time zone. When I asked them, they said that it was 12 midnight in whatever time zone you are in. So, that means Pacific Standard Time gave me about 3-4 extra hours to work on the paper after midnight Eastern Standard Time!
I was coordinating with my supervisor last night, exchanging e-mails and calling each other, to figure out who was doing which section, so we wouldn't step on each other's toes. There's nothing like the adrenaline of writing a paper and feeling the heat of a deadline for submission. It seems like your head gets so extremely focussed, you have all the energy you need to get your thoughts down and write them out. At least for me, that's what I felt, I felt the thoughts were translating quite nicely onto the writing of the paper. Of course, it also helped that I had organized the paper into sections and wrote about what the different sections and subsections were going to be, to accelerate the process.
Every hour, I kept uploading a newer version of the paper, just to make sure if the submission site closed down, at least I had the most recent paper uploaded. Finally, after 4 am in the morning yesterday, I finished the paper and decided it's done and submitted it. Now, it's all up to the reviewers and program committee to decide if the paper gets accepted. I felt so tired after that I just slept in today, and this weekend I'm going to relax and do no research or work whatsoever (of course, I'll do other work, but it won't be research or school related and it won't be intensive that it will require my brain lol).
What's next? I have a journal paper to submit middle of April and then another paper at the end of April. So, I will still be busy! Oh yes, and I also have to schedule and do the PhD depth oral exam as well. Ah, the life of a PhD student!!!!
I was coordinating with my supervisor last night, exchanging e-mails and calling each other, to figure out who was doing which section, so we wouldn't step on each other's toes. There's nothing like the adrenaline of writing a paper and feeling the heat of a deadline for submission. It seems like your head gets so extremely focussed, you have all the energy you need to get your thoughts down and write them out. At least for me, that's what I felt, I felt the thoughts were translating quite nicely onto the writing of the paper. Of course, it also helped that I had organized the paper into sections and wrote about what the different sections and subsections were going to be, to accelerate the process.
Every hour, I kept uploading a newer version of the paper, just to make sure if the submission site closed down, at least I had the most recent paper uploaded. Finally, after 4 am in the morning yesterday, I finished the paper and decided it's done and submitted it. Now, it's all up to the reviewers and program committee to decide if the paper gets accepted. I felt so tired after that I just slept in today, and this weekend I'm going to relax and do no research or work whatsoever (of course, I'll do other work, but it won't be research or school related and it won't be intensive that it will require my brain lol).
What's next? I have a journal paper to submit middle of April and then another paper at the end of April. So, I will still be busy! Oh yes, and I also have to schedule and do the PhD depth oral exam as well. Ah, the life of a PhD student!!!!
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Ride the Rocket with Google
The TTC is considering an offer by Google to offer commuters free online trip information using Google Maps. According to TTC Chair Howard Moscoe, "It looks to me like the costs are minimal," he said. "I think we should bring it about rather than wait for the staff to develop all of their systems, because it can happen very quickly."
The thing is that you can already do that today. If you do a Google search on "ttc google", you'll find a wealth of information on mashups of Google Maps on TTC subway and TTC Google maps. It's a good idea, I'm not sure how much the cost will be. But I would say that the TTC spends its money on improving the service, compared to other transit systems like in Spain and Paris (which I was for the Web-Based Communities conference). I think the TTC needs to look at other transit systems and learn on how they operate and what stuff they do to improve service. For example, on the Paris subway system, they have door handles outside and inside the subway cars, so that you have to release the handle if you want to go inside or come out. This prevents people from barging in and makes the subway safer.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Windows Live Beta
As I was reading my e-mail and reading blog posts, I came across Microsoft Windows Live, which I've been hearing for a while. I tried the Windows Live Beta search and the interesting thing, is the ability to zoom into images from thumbnails that are displayed from the search. There is also search in feeds and search in local using Virtual Earth (kind of like Google Local). The search here just looks like an integration task, I really don't see anything new here. And Windows Live also includes Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger, and others.
I saw a blog for Windows Live Messenger. I haven't had a chance to actually play around with this stuff, cause I have to write a paper for a conference that is due this Friday! Maybe I'll look at it after the paper, as a stress reliever after the paper is written!
Where is the paper going to? I can't say, but if it gets accepted, then I'll let you know.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Wi-Fi coverage in Toronto
Right now, there is Wi-Fi in Toronto by various different network providers like Telus, Rogers and Bell, and other hotspot companies, however there are still places in downtown Toronto where there is no Wi-Fi. You can check out the Wi-Fi hotspots and their locations here. Toronto Hydro Telecom is going to change that by making a Wi-Fi network that will cover the entire downtown Toronto. Current Wi-Fi installations involve installing an access point at a location, either mounted on a pole or in an office, or on the ceiling. What Toronto Hydro Telecom will do is install wireless radio access points inside streetlight poles, so that it will cover the dead zones. They plan to finish installing the entire network by end of this year, in 5 phases.
Finally, Toronto will have ubiquitous Wi-Fi coverage, it's about time!!!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Chapter 5 notes from Naked Conversations book
This chapter explains how even little known people or small companies can make it big by using the blogosphere as the medium to spread the message. In fact, it is easier to communicate with a blog and a company get direct access to potential customers, than advertising. Using a blog, the company’s voice can be heard, and there is no marketing spiel. It’s also very easy to do, all you need to do is just write what you want to say and link to others. Creating an advertisement takes creativity and lots of time and money, but an ad may only reach maybe 20% of possible customers of which only a fraction will actually tune in and react to it. It also increases the Google search especially for those who are looking for a business that specializes in a particular product. For example, there was a coffee company that was the #1 hit in Google local search and surpassed the company’s big coffee company Starbucks. So blogging makes your business and your name known. It makes the small guys compete with the huge marketing muscle of the big guys. So, yes, even a small company can take on a behemoth like Microsoft. Until Microsoft decides to swallow up that company and acquire their technology.
Chapter 4 notes from Naked Conversations book
It’s interesting to see that many executives are now blogging. Many companies are now turning to blogs as PR, in addition to press releases. The reason is that blogs reach customers and those are the ones that businesses need to target in order to continue sustaining revenues and customer satisfaction. Press releases often only mention things which don’t damage a company’s reputation and censors the “real stuff” going on in the company. Think Enron and how they covered up their financial scandal. It forces the companies to be honest and talk the truth, and it also makes them held accountable. That’s what we need today in business, not lying executives who just want to inflate their salaries and bask in their corporate riches. In this chapter, Scoble and Israel talk about 2 executives who have very successful blogs. The first is Bob Lutz who is General Motors’ vice chairman where he communicates about GM to his readers and customers. According to Lutz, “In the age of the Internet anyone can be a journalist”.
Another prominent blogger in the corporate business is Mark Cuban, who is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA basketball team. Mark Cuban started to blog to set the records straight, because the media seems to say things that are not true about him, and distorts the message. So blogging allows the express the true opinions and is unbiased, something that we all know the media is not (think CNN, do you trust CNN?). Remember the movie Wag the Dog, where the election campaign was all based upon a fictitious war which was just made up?
Bloggers are passionate and are very open to suggestions. Sun Microsystems’ president, Jonathan Schwartz fits this personality perfectly. In fact, he made blogging a Sun strategic initiative as part of an effort to improve the image of Sun. Many developers and customers felt that Scott McNealy (the CEO) and Sun was losing their competitiveness and was off the tech radar. Schwartz wanted to change that and show that Sun is still alive and vibrant. Many people including rivals get insights into the company and has improved the company’s reputation as a faithful and authentic company. And that resonates well with attracting the industry’s top developers to use Sun software and hardware.
Another prominent blogger in the corporate business is Mark Cuban, who is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA basketball team. Mark Cuban started to blog to set the records straight, because the media seems to say things that are not true about him, and distorts the message. So blogging allows the express the true opinions and is unbiased, something that we all know the media is not (think CNN, do you trust CNN?). Remember the movie Wag the Dog, where the election campaign was all based upon a fictitious war which was just made up?
Bloggers are passionate and are very open to suggestions. Sun Microsystems’ president, Jonathan Schwartz fits this personality perfectly. In fact, he made blogging a Sun strategic initiative as part of an effort to improve the image of Sun. Many developers and customers felt that Scott McNealy (the CEO) and Sun was losing their competitiveness and was off the tech radar. Schwartz wanted to change that and show that Sun is still alive and vibrant. Many people including rivals get insights into the company and has improved the company’s reputation as a faithful and authentic company. And that resonates well with attracting the industry’s top developers to use Sun software and hardware.
Monday, March 13, 2006
From Earth to Mars in the Google Galaxy
Google has just released Google Mars which shows the maps and terrain of the Mars planet.
More from the Official Google Blog.
Web-based Communities conference keynote #2
The second keynote was on the second day, February 27, of the conference. It was by Cliff Figgalo, SocioAlchemy, USA. Cliff was part of the first virtual community which was the BBS WELL, and he worked with Howard Rheingold on this project. Howard Rheingold created the definition of virtual community. Here are the notes that I took.
Keynote #2: Communities of Ideology, presented by Cliff Figgalo, SocioAlchemy, USA
- ideology as motivator for community
- old idea: community based on trust, familiarity and intimacy
=> the WELL (earliest online community)
=> the WELL was an intentional community - from intentional community to electronic community
- WELL = whole earth electronic link (by Stuart Brandt who Cliff worked with)
- provide a sense of shared sacrifice and ownership
=> mutuality, purpose and reward
=> this is for successful community - from the WELL
=> first collection of online communities
=> self-reflective identity - sense of making history
=> collectively facing adversity
=> the network effect (Hagel and Armstrong) - selfish atttraction of the collective
=> community is hard work - Hosting Web Communities is a book that Cliff Figgalo wrote
- community parameters
- interactivity
- focus
- cohesion
- My Comment: Can we find this in a blog network? then can figure out a measure for this
- mixing and matching these parameters gives different communities - early web community was chat, iChat
- content sites: high focus, low interactivity. Are they audience or community?
Therefore continuum eg. people watching play and rock concert - P2P breakthrough
- was Napster a community?
- just a utility
- conceptual tipping point - newspapers and community
- publishers vs. community of readers - talked about blogs and blogosphere
- political activism
- blogs, moveon.org - Markos Moulitsas blog
- 20 million unique visits per month
- community in blog - solving global problems => multiple voices (Worldchanging)
- altruistic P2P => collection of computers P2P fashion for reporting prediction of climate (climateprediction.net)
It was an entertaining keynote, and he spoke well. And he worked with Howard Rheingold!
Web-based Communities conference keynote #1
Here's the first keynote from the Web-based Communities conference presented by Peter Kollock, from which I took notes.
How Not To Build Online Markets by Peter Kollock on February 26, 2006
- intermediaries are a source of friction
- case study: social life of propane in Texas
- successful online market
- relationships were important
- traders on the phone
- how to combine anonymity and reputation
=> preclassify companies into categories
- technology for a centralized market makes no sense
- small group => anonymity impossible, think peer reviewed journal
- TX propane not same as CA (California) propane
=> CA isolated from TX
=> aggregation doesn't work
=> even though same product, but different due to environment so becomes different products
- many physical markets are like CA propane (fragmented)
=> requires fundamentally different technology
=> identity and reciprocity are key, social networks are crucial, but no technology support for them
=> small-scale fragmented markets, so aggregation of them doesn't work!
- different markets require different social technologies
- commoditized, centralized markets are exception
- most markets composed of many fragmented markets
- technology must match the sociology
why? behavioural realities of markets and how people use were ignored
- IM could have been better fit for fragmented markets
=> traders now using IM because preserves identity and social networks
Sunday, March 12, 2006
CEBIT new gadgets
As GadgetMan, I love to look at new gadgets, hence my name! Here are some from CEBIT that have piqued my interest.
1. Samsung's Ten Megapixel SCH-B600
Oh my, and I thought my digital camera with 5.0 Megapixels wasn't enough! Samsung has released a 10 megapixel camera in a phone!
I guess the cell phone as the truly ubiquitous device is really here. It's got 3x optical zoom, flash, S-DMB support, Bluetooth, EV-DO, TV-out. What else it doesn't have? Oh a bottle opener, car key opener, RFID tag for paying gas at the gas station.
2. Samsung SGH-i310 cell phone
8 GB of storage on this baby, oh my! It's designed to knock off the Nano because it stores more songs than it. Samsung is really putting the moves in the cell phone market, watch out Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson!
3. Toshiba High definition DVD laptop
The first laptop with HD-DVD format is available now, and it's from Toshiba. However, it's still a battle between HD-DVD and BluRay. Kind of reminds me of the battle between Beta and VHS.
4. BenQ cell phones with Google software
BenQ Mobile, a part of BenQ has shown off their new cell phones, the business which they inherited from acquiring Siemens mobile phone business (which I didn't know about), that have built-in Google software in them. The Google software will allow to do searches but with an interface and speed appropriate to the cell phone and cellular network. I know BenQ because I have a BenQ mouse and I bought a BenQ monitor, I didn't know that BenQ was also in the cellular phone business. BenQ is really making it in the computer industry, and they're based from Taiwan.
5. Ultra-Mobile PCs
Or otherwise known as Microsoft's Origami. I blogged about this. Apparently, reports show that they have poor battery life. Don't know how it will fare, but I don't think I will get one anytime soon. Unless someone is willing to give me one for "testing purposes".
6. Gold-plated USB stick
Ok, so what's this with gold plating everything? We have gold-plated cell phones for the rich people, now gold-plated USB sticks? A 1GB version with 14-carat gold coating and five diamonds costs in excess of 2,000 pounds (about $3,500). I guess if you're as rich as Bill Gates, the amount of money for this is peanuts. For me? I'd rather get one from Pacific Mall or buy one from China that will be like 1/100th the price.
7. Cell processor
IBM showed a demonstration of the Cell processor for intense graphics. I first read about this in a IEEE Spectrum issue, and I heard about a talk at CASCON from an IBM vice-president. It's going to power the Sony PlayStation 3.
1. Samsung's Ten Megapixel SCH-B600
Oh my, and I thought my digital camera with 5.0 Megapixels wasn't enough! Samsung has released a 10 megapixel camera in a phone!
I guess the cell phone as the truly ubiquitous device is really here. It's got 3x optical zoom, flash, S-DMB support, Bluetooth, EV-DO, TV-out. What else it doesn't have? Oh a bottle opener, car key opener, RFID tag for paying gas at the gas station.
2. Samsung SGH-i310 cell phone
8 GB of storage on this baby, oh my! It's designed to knock off the Nano because it stores more songs than it. Samsung is really putting the moves in the cell phone market, watch out Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson!
3. Toshiba High definition DVD laptop
The first laptop with HD-DVD format is available now, and it's from Toshiba. However, it's still a battle between HD-DVD and BluRay. Kind of reminds me of the battle between Beta and VHS.
4. BenQ cell phones with Google software
BenQ Mobile, a part of BenQ has shown off their new cell phones, the business which they inherited from acquiring Siemens mobile phone business (which I didn't know about), that have built-in Google software in them. The Google software will allow to do searches but with an interface and speed appropriate to the cell phone and cellular network. I know BenQ because I have a BenQ mouse and I bought a BenQ monitor, I didn't know that BenQ was also in the cellular phone business. BenQ is really making it in the computer industry, and they're based from Taiwan.
5. Ultra-Mobile PCs
Or otherwise known as Microsoft's Origami. I blogged about this. Apparently, reports show that they have poor battery life. Don't know how it will fare, but I don't think I will get one anytime soon. Unless someone is willing to give me one for "testing purposes".
6. Gold-plated USB stick
Ok, so what's this with gold plating everything? We have gold-plated cell phones for the rich people, now gold-plated USB sticks? A 1GB version with 14-carat gold coating and five diamonds costs in excess of 2,000 pounds (about $3,500). I guess if you're as rich as Bill Gates, the amount of money for this is peanuts. For me? I'd rather get one from Pacific Mall or buy one from China that will be like 1/100th the price.
7. Cell processor
IBM showed a demonstration of the Cell processor for intense graphics. I first read about this in a IEEE Spectrum issue, and I heard about a talk at CASCON from an IBM vice-president. It's going to power the Sony PlayStation 3.
I'm engaged!
Well, it's been about a week since I came back from the Paris and Spain trip as part of the Web-based Communities conference in Spain. I was in Paris with my girlfriend and when we arrived, at that night, I booked a dinner in the Attitude 95 restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. It was about 10 minutes before 11 pm before the closing of the Eiffel Tower, so I took my girlfriend after we finished eating at the restaurant to a corner. And I took out the engagement ring proposed to her after dinner when we were out on the floor of the Eiffel Tower! Apparently, my colleague Sacha already wrote this on her blog and so did Melody, so I thought hmm it's better now that I write this exciting moment.
She was very surprised but she said yes! So, I'm engaged! I'm so happy, now we are planning the marriage and wedding. So, why am I writing this on my technology, research and gadgets blog, it must have something to do with gadgets right? Yes, it does. The proposal involved using an iPod and iTalk. I brought the iPod to play a piano song to her which I composed, and then the iTalk was for the speakers and to record what I sang to her which was my proposal.
So, now we have a podcast of the memorable and romantic event to keep for the rest of our lives.
She was very surprised but she said yes! So, I'm engaged! I'm so happy, now we are planning the marriage and wedding. So, why am I writing this on my technology, research and gadgets blog, it must have something to do with gadgets right? Yes, it does. The proposal involved using an iPod and iTalk. I brought the iPod to play a piano song to her which I composed, and then the iTalk was for the speakers and to record what I sang to her which was my proposal.
So, now we have a podcast of the memorable and romantic event to keep for the rest of our lives.
Web-based Communities conference photos
Wow, I'm making a rampage on my blog today, if you were to do an analysis of my blog, you'd see a burst for today. It must be because it's Saturday, so I am doing other work (not research related). Anyways, I've finally uploaded the photos from the Web-based Communities conference, so you can have a look on Sony ImageStation. If for some reason, you don't have permission to view, send me an e-mail at achin AT cs DOT toronto DOT edu and I'll give you permission.
Enjoy! I had a great time at the conference.
Enjoy! I had a great time at the conference.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Microsoft's answer to Apple's iPod
Oh, man this is cool. Check out Microsoft's version of the iPod in this parody video!
Origami
The newest gadget that people are talking about right now is the Origami device that Microsoft announced at CEBIT, otherwise known as the Ultra-Mobile PC. A picture of it is shown below:
The Origami website is just a promotion to introduce people to the Ultra-Mobile PC that will revolutionize the PC and make it more mobile and easier to use. Is the Ultra-Mobile PC really that revolutionary and hyped? To me, it just looks like a glorified PDA and laptop put together, it's just another form factor of PCs where Microsoft is trying to put Windows into any type of computer no matter what size imaginable.
As a matter of fact, it reminds me of the Archos video player
or the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) in terms of form factor and look.
It looks like Microsoft is now encroaching on these competitors' turf. Computer devices are beginning to be blurred now. Soon, we'll have a PC that can do anything, wasn't there something like that with NEC that was like a 6-in-1 device that could change into a cell phone, camera, video player, etc.? I remember reading about it, but I can't find the exact name of that device, I thought that the name was also origami, because that implies changing into different forms, and it was a proof-of-concept or demo about maybe 2-3 years ago.
How many devices will we have to use, as if our lives aren't complicated already.
You have the SPOT watches that run Windows
the Tablet PC,
the Pocket PC,
the Auto PC,
the SmartPhone PC,
the desktop PC,
the laptop PC,
and now the Ultra-Mobile PC. Next thing, there will be RFID tags running Windows, which maybe there are already in development.
Anyways, there's lots of Origami talk on Microsoft's Robert Scoble's blog.
The Origami website is just a promotion to introduce people to the Ultra-Mobile PC that will revolutionize the PC and make it more mobile and easier to use. Is the Ultra-Mobile PC really that revolutionary and hyped? To me, it just looks like a glorified PDA and laptop put together, it's just another form factor of PCs where Microsoft is trying to put Windows into any type of computer no matter what size imaginable.
As a matter of fact, it reminds me of the Archos video player
or the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) in terms of form factor and look.
It looks like Microsoft is now encroaching on these competitors' turf. Computer devices are beginning to be blurred now. Soon, we'll have a PC that can do anything, wasn't there something like that with NEC that was like a 6-in-1 device that could change into a cell phone, camera, video player, etc.? I remember reading about it, but I can't find the exact name of that device, I thought that the name was also origami, because that implies changing into different forms, and it was a proof-of-concept or demo about maybe 2-3 years ago.
How many devices will we have to use, as if our lives aren't complicated already.
You have the SPOT watches that run Windows
the Tablet PC,
the Pocket PC,
the Auto PC,
the SmartPhone PC,
the desktop PC,
the laptop PC,
and now the Ultra-Mobile PC. Next thing, there will be RFID tags running Windows, which maybe there are already in development.
Anyways, there's lots of Origami talk on Microsoft's Robert Scoble's blog.
Friday, March 10, 2006
My conference slides, paper and podcast available!
As promised, here are the slides, paper and talk from the Web-Based Communities conference that I was at in San Sebastian, Spain.
I asked someone in the audience to use my digital camera to take a picture of me, I think the quality of the pictures turned out ok.
Here's a picture of me giving the talk:
And another picture:
The talk is also available to subscribe as a podcast. To be honest, I can say that I spoke a little too fast, I need to speak slowly, but the voice quality seems good, I was enthusiastic. A lot of the attendees listening to my talk felt that I spoke well and some commended my speaking ability. One professor told me that you don't hear many Computer Science students speak that well. That gave me a great sense of encouragement, I always want to impress my audience when I am talking, I don't want to sound boring. I've been to many talks where the topic seemed interesting, but the presenter was very monotonous.
Any comments about the paper are welcome, you can write comments here, or if you want, you can e-mail me at achin AT cs DOT toronto DOT edu.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Mini Scobleizer
Just like the Austin Powers movie, where there was Dr. Evil and Mini Me, there is a Mini Scobleizer (who is the son of Robert Scoble, the chief blogging officer of Microsoft). It's just a parody, I am sure Patrick Scoble bears no incarnation to Mini Me, and Robert to Dr. Evil. Interesting that I came up with Patrick Scoble's blog from browsing the top blogs on WordPress.com as part of my research.
Patrick's got some interesting posts, he seems to be quite similar in his blogging style like his dad. I guess like father, like son.
Patrick's got some interesting posts, he seems to be quite similar in his blogging style like his dad. I guess like father, like son.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Met Shel Israel in Toronto last night!
Tonight, I finally met Shel Israel, the author of the book Naked Conversations. He’s a really nice guy, and he was invited as part of the AIMS conference in Toronto. When I first approached him, I was going to say something, but he beat me to it, and said “Are you Albert”. At first, I thought he meant Alvin, and I was like, man, how does he know me? Did he read my blog? I thought that’s impossible. He said “Were you at the conference in California?” To which I replied, “No, I just came back from a conference in San Sebastian, Spain”. He then replied to me (well not in these exact words, but I am paraphrasing), “Spain is nice, much warmer than here”. Then, that’s how we started talking to each other.
I brought my copy of the Naked Conversations book, and asked him to sign it for me, which he graciously did. It took him a long time to sign, because he was holding the book while talking to another person. But he did sign it.
I then told him I was a PhD student at University of Toronto and doing research on finding communities in blogs using social network analysis and clustering techniques and building a quantitative framework for evaluating blogs (like creating a eBay rating was one lady who was beside me who chimed in) and that hopefully this would be part of my PhD thesis. He then replied “That’s great, you can do that as part of a PhD?” But, he was certainly intrigued about my research in finding communities. He said that I was a smart fellow (wow, that coming from Shel Israel, I think I made an impact). I told him to check out my blog and we exchanged business cards. Then, I asked the lady whom I met to take a picture of me with Shel.
There were lots of people at the event that was held at Shoeless Joe's in Toronto. I took some pictures of the crowd as you can see below.
Here's a picture of the organizer of the event, who managed to get Shel to come to the blogging dinner as well as to the AIMS conference.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Pope + iPod = iPope
I just read this article about the Pope being an iPodder. Apparently, it was when Pope Benedict XVI went to visit the Vatican Radio's broadcasting headquarters, where he was presented with an iPod nano and with it preloaded songs of Classical Music and Vatican Radio podcasts. Now, the Pope can stay connected and be kept up to date with his iPod. In fact, he has stated he wants to use the latest technology to connect his message to Catholics. I think that's really great, Pope John Paul II also encouraged using technology to bring the message to the faithful. The first pope to embrace technology was Pope Pius XI when he started the Vatican Radio almost 75 years ago.
Hey perhaps, Pope Benedict XVI will start to have his homilies and daily messages be videocasted as well. Maybe he can start to write his own Vatican blog!
Hey perhaps, Pope Benedict XVI will start to have his homilies and daily messages be videocasted as well. Maybe he can start to write his own Vatican blog!
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