Monster Noodle

Been in the IT industry for a few years and looking for a good chuckle? Take a look at the latest news on outsourcing giant EDS. These folks have been filling the flesh peddling niche for years with the cheapest “globally outsourced” labor that money could buy. In the process, they have played a key role in the move to commoditize IT with plug and play workers.

Sure it’s survival of the fittest but you can’t help but get a little sick satisfaction out of the coming slash and burn that is sure to come to the top of EDS once HP begins to cull the executive herd. These are the same guys that helped countless companies streamline their labor costs by outsourcing their in-house IT staff to some other part of the world. HP should be able help EDS to “streamline its labor costs” too in the very near future. Afterall, isn’t that what EDS is all about? 

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: Information Technology

If you’re a blogger and have not checked out Woopra.com, stop everything that you’re doing and get on the beta list. This is the coolest analytic tool I have seen for blogging, period.

Let’s start at the beginning. First off, Woopra is live. Yes, totally live. You can see who is on your site right now and what they are doing. Not only can you see what is happening in real time, you can stop what you are doing and chat with the user that is currently online.

Woopra’s difference is it’s ability to report in real time. Is that important? In a word, yes. A scrolling screen has always been the holy grail of console management. It puts the pro’s and con’s in your face while you are watching. It is way too easy to sleep through a log file and miss an important event. When it’s happening as you watch, you’re almost guaranteed to notice. What else do we like about Woopra? Let’s take a look.

Real time analysis allows you to see what is happening on your site at any time. Who’s there reading what and at what time. That’s pretty hoss.

You can initiate chat with anyone on your site at any time while they are online. Careful, don’t scare away the traffic.

You can see where your traffic is coming from in the world. Ok, so you can’t speak Pashtun. Apparently, they can speak English.

Woopra lets you know when you have something interesting on your site. It’s nice to hear the bell telling you that you have another visitor.

Let’s see…woopra or google. Tough choice…right. Woopra kicks the @#$ out of google analytics, in almost every way. I guess that means that google will be buying it soon, or maybe the boys at Redmond will beat them to it. Either way, I’m ready for the IPO.

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: analytics, marketing, woopra

WARNING!!! Jargonistic Technobable Ahead…

If you have been in or around the Information Technology industry for more than a few years you are certainly aware of how the industry has changed. In essence, the IT community has gone from being the answer to the problem to the problem without a good answer. It’s really amazing to me how closely the development of IT from one generation to the next has matched the different generations of Star Trek.

V1.0: The first generation of IT folks were a little scary. This was a generation of wildly talented free spirits that truly did go “where no man has gone before. Ok, so they were generally a little socially backward for their day. Now everyone’s a geek. It’s hard to miss the parallels between the first gen. IT group and initial Star Trek seasons. Lots of genius level non-conformists doing things that had never been done. Kirk was running around challenging the gods much in the same way that this generation challenged the suits. Kirk always won, and so did they. Ahhh…the glory days.

V2.0: The second generation of IT folks were a little more mainstream. Hey, isn’t that a lot like the Second Generation of Star Trek? During this time, IT began to be taken seriously by the suits and applied to business functions. Even though the suits were still afraid of the crew, they began to realize that they could wow their bosses with new shiny toys. Everyone was happy.

V3.0: Anyone home? Hello?!?!. Now you’re in syndication. After years of Jr. suits selling impossible projects to their big suit bosses, the great big suits now believe that IT is a cost that must be managed. After the second generation of IT flourished, so many “would be” techies rushed to get into this field that this generation has become a commodity. Oh sure, you have a few tricks up your sleeve and a lot of content to pull from but you’re stuck on Deep Sleep Nine. There are a million other shows just like you so you’re pretty much nothing special. Sorry you missed the bus.

Does this mean that the great voyage “to boldly go where no man has gone before” is over? Hardly. There will always be dreamers that are pushing the envelope. What it does mean is that the IT profession as a whole has become domesticated. It’s tame, safe and about as exciting as a priceline.com commercial.  

So, what’s next for IT? I found an extremely good article about the nature of the changing IT scene. It’s not brand new and it will require you to control your ADD for a few minutes but this is great reading material if you find yourself in the minefield of modern IT. 

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise are all registered trademarks of CBS Paramount Television. No copyright infringement is intended through the display of content on this site. All copyrighted material is included under “fair use” principles. This site is also in no way affiliated with or endorsed by CBS Paramount Television.

written by Lochshen \\ tags: Information, it, Star Trek

Prediction Markets are one of the hottest new trends in social networking. If you don’t know what a prediction market is, don’t feel like you’re on your own.The concept is not quite mainstream enough to be a household word yet.

Prediction Markets leverage a community of users to make predictions about future events. Although the predictions are not always correct, prediction markets have proven to be quite accurate when compared with traditional methods of predicting future trends. Many companies are jumping on the bandwagon to find out exactly what they can do to improve their position in a given market.

If you want to take a spin, take a look at some of the more interesting prediction markets available on the web at this time.

ABC Futures Market focuses on pop culture trends, especially those that relate to recent ABC programming.

  Continue reading »

written by Lochshen \\ tags: advertising, blogs, marketing, prediction markets

Stephen Hawking just hit the proverbial nail squarely on the head. Hawking’s recent statements regarding the need to dedicate more resources to space travel and exploration could not have come at a more relevant time.

Global warming, dwindling oil supplies, economic turmoil and practically every other popular world problem have their roots solidly in one single issue, explosive population growth. The world has gone from an estimated 2.5 billion in 1950 to 6.6 billion today. Amazingly, there were less than 1 billion in 1800.

There are plenty of counter arguments but there is one simple truth. When population exceeds carrying capacity a system will collapse. We are not close to reaching the planets carrying capacity but this kind of growth is not sustainable. The world is only now beginning to see the results of increased competition for resources and that trend will only continue to intensify.

Mr. Hawking’s answer to this problem is the only viable long term solution. We as a planet must dedicate more resources to finding more resources. There’s only one way and that’s up. Carl Sagan often espoused the same views as have countless other progressive thinkers. 

There has never been a better time for humanity to look to the stars. We are in an age that can still afford to spend “venture capital”. It will not be this way forever. There will come a time that every patch of ground that we have must be used to feed us. That train is coming.

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: green, NASA, space

WARNING!!! Jargonistic Technobable ahead.

I suppose that the first question is “what the ^%$& is QR-Code?”. QR-Code is a proprietary 2D bar-code technology that allows for a considerable amount of data to be encoded within it. Traditional 2D bar- codes can store up to 2355 alpha characters while QR-Code can store 4296. QR-Code has been around in the automotive industry for over ten years to track the movement of parts through the manufacturing system.

Now the real question, “why do I care?”. The biggest reason that you will care is that Google has begun to care. Google has taken the stance that this type of technology has the capability to revolutionize print advertising. Google has adopted the technology in it’s “Google Print Ads” extension.   

QR-Code is already hot in Japan. They are already used to store information about products on shelves, magazine articles, newspaper ads and a slew of other applications. Most cell phones in Japan are equipped with a QR capable camera. This allows the consumer to pull up lots of information by simply scanning the bar-code on the product.

There have been similar efforts in the US to implement a code based system in advertising but at the time, the technology to tie them directly to a web enabled cell phone did not exist. Now that the stars have aligned, don’t be surprised if you see more of this kind of technology in the near future.

Interested? Try it yourself here.

Until next time, happy blogging.

QR code is trademarked by Denso Wave, inc

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: advertising, barcode, google

In www-land there are new sites popping up every day that promise to be the next big thing. Most of these sites struggle for a few months or even a few years and then realize that it’s often more difficult to do big things than a slick site design and a shaky business model. Other sites seem to hit the exact place at the precise time and make millions, literally overnight. Then there are those that you’re not quite sure about. In comes Fusu.com.

If you haven’t heard anything about it, you’re not alone. The site and it’s concept are new and have not had enough time to generate much in the way of buzz. Beginning it’s history only a few short months ago, Fusu’s concept is simple, find people who own potentially big domain names then issue stock for the sale of the domain. The domain owner raises initial capital from the issue of the stock while the investor reaps the benefits of lower cost fractional ownership. The big question is if Fusu can draw enough attention and produce enough results to continue to mature it’s business.

It is a very interesting concept but is it the next big thing? Who knows. Crazier things in recent years have made billions. One thing is however certain, Fusu will need a lot of buzz and even more luck to reach the critical mass that will be necessary to get this concept off the ground. Take a few minutes to head over and judge for yourself.

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: blog, buzz, Investing, new, squatting

WARNING!!! Jargonistic Technobable ahead…

Recently the Gartner group presented their views on the state of the future of Windows as well as a their assesment of the problems with the current MS operating system, Windows Vista. Leave it to the boys at Gartner to take a relatively simple issue and make it complex. Vista’s failure is about hardware requirements and performance. It’s that simple.

The gaming industry was slow to adopt Vista because quite simply, XP is faster. When it’s about speed, why pay more for less.

Corporate environments could have made very good use out of the inherent security features that were central to Vista but the required hardware to effectively run the software was cost prohibitive. Having managed a fairly sizable client base, I can tell you that IT has become a cost to be managed instead of the first line provider of business solutions. When you operate under that model, budgets don’t lend themselves to a $1500 PC to run standard office software and a mail client.

Vista has been adopted fairly widely by the standard home user. It has been a stable platform to operate on and that is what most average users care about, well that and the eye candy.

According to Gartner’s annoucement, the future is hypervisor and virtualized machines. Didn’t I hear the same thing about Java years ago? Wasn’t java supposed to make us OS independant and replace old warhorses like RPG and C++?

If you haven’t read Gartner’s last announcement regarding the future of Windows, you should give it a few minutes to at least get a chuckle. At least they were spot on with licensing. MS licensing has become more convoluted than the tax code.

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: it, java, tech, windows

One of the most common causes of hardware failure in a PC is power fluctuation. This is one of the most often overlooked areas of PC stability. Cumulative damage from these changes in power can result in crashed hard drives, fried processors and a host of other maladies that can easily be avoided.

Many consumer grade UPS systems offer basic protection for your machine but many are weak sources of controlling power fluctuations. Some consumer grade UPS systems offer automatic voltage regulation (AVR) but they can be an expensive options and are often not available at your local retail outlet. Couple this with the disposable nature of most consumer grade UPS’s and in time you can spend a considerable amount of money keeping your power clean. 

Another solution is to buy a good voltage regulator to use in line with your standard UPS. The best bang for the buck on the market today may be the Opti UPS SS1200. At around $20 street cost this little monster can save you a bundle in damaged components. Not only will the SS1200 handle power spikes quite well but is an excellent solution for dealing with brown-out conditions. I have used one of these for over a year and have had excellent results.

So, if you notice your lights dim the next time your AC kicks on, it might be a good time to invest in an AVR solution. If you don’t want to spend a bundle the SS1200 might be for you.

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: AVR, OPTI UPS, UPS

I can’t tell you how glad I was to read the recent Forbes article on server Virtualization dangers. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, virtualization in a nutshell is the process of putting multiple discreet OS installs on a single server via virtualization hardware or software.

First off, let me say that virtualization is a great tool under the right circumstances. It allows the distinct advantages of leveraging a single machine with excess hardware capabilities to gain the greatest return on investment for your hardware. It is a technology that has been around for many years and it’s use is wide spread. Couple the technology with a beefy SAN and voila you have a server farm in a single rack.

All of that is great but there are a lot, and I mean a LOT, of disadvantages for choosing this infrastructure model as the sole model for your enterprise.

1. Virtualization puts all of your eggs in one basket. Sure, there are plenty of ways to mitigate this risk with clustering technology but the reality is that several virtual servers on a single machine is simply more risky than having dedicated equipment for each application. Having managed a reasonably sized data center (>100 real servers and several virtual), I can tell you from personal experience that compartmentalization and redundancy cannot be overstated as a method to mitigate risk.
2. Virtualization has a longterm cost. The major selling point for virtualization is cost reduction. However, many of the long-term costs associated with virtualization are ignored in order to realize the short-term gain. Heat, power consumption, complexity, and performance all become issues when moving to a virtual environment. These costs may seem small but a deeper understanding reveals that these costs become fixed costs now associated with running your business.
3. Virtualization is a hacker dream. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it’s easier to take over one machine than to many. With a single attack on a virtual server’s hypervisor your whole security system can be overcome. With the ever increasing need to keep data secure, this is a risk that must be considered when considering to virtualize.

Virtualization has been well marketed. Much in the same way that the Microsoft server was well marketed back when a small company called Novell owned the IT infrastructure market(remember when it just worked?). In much the same way, the trend is toward a solution with lower initial costs that requires more in the long-run to manage.

The prudent IT professional would do well to consider when to use and when not to use virtualization. As for replacing your entire infrastructure with virtual servers, I have two words: Caveat Emptor… 

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: it, security, technology, virtualization