One of the first articles I read today was about Microsoft’s ‘Milan’ computer, or more generally, about Microsoft’s newest line of consumer products, surface computers. I read the article, as I was generally interested, but thought little more of the product until I ran into Paul Kedrosky’s article about the release:

the main thing the oversized and unavailable, low-light reliant and generally cumbersome Playtable makes you do is realize how darn cool it will be to have a palm-sized gesture interface like iPhone’s in another month.

I have to disagree with the suggestion, and I hope more people don’t underestimate the potential. Ignoring the simple ‘wow’ factor, think of the number of clubs, restaurants, and coffee shops that could take advantage of the product: personal jukebox/music video players, potential online access to play online games, send email, and chat, sports highlights with easily accessible links to related articles, and an endless number of other possibilities. Consider it at the office: brainstorming sessions that are automatically saved on the unit, the ability to quickly move between figures and tables on a platform that all parties can interact with, and an interesting and unique way to add to a presentation. Finally, think about the uses at home: board games that don’t require a board, play movies, look through pictures and videos with everyone.

There are still some questions I have about the unit, but I don’t question whether or not it is an add for an iPhone. With today’s consumer moving towards a situation where even their fridge has a computer incorporated into its design, the possibilities and uses for this type of product is almost limitless.

In an article I wrote last week, I linked to an article on Computerworld that talked about dead and dying computer skills. There was an immediate backlash to the article, which resulted in this article, and it seems that the topic is anything but dead. Of course the whole idea behind the article is subjective and anything but a clear science, so there are going to be arguments. Another article I read about the topic makes a good point:

Old skills die hard, and they should, but maintaining them requires an investment of time, energy and (in the case of certifiable skills) money that could perhaps be directed elsewhere. Knowing when you can walk away from knowledge can be more difficult than managing it.

Luckily for those in the IT Industry, skills that you can walk away from can still provide you some fundamental knowledge that can be applied to new technologies, and really, it is just as important to be able to learn these new skills as it was to know the old ones.

A recent IDC Canada study on Canadian users and their habits with online social networking platforms has identified five distinct categories of social networking sites: friend, group general interest, dating, blogging, and media sharing. There are obviously sites that would span these categories, but I think most sites that span these categories would still have a primary function that is facilitated by a majority of their users; although YouTube does offer blogging, it is still primarily a media site.

What might be more interesting than the five categories listed above (honestly, I hope no money was invested in creating that list as it would seem to be a fairly obvious breakdown) is the fact that 51 percent of Canadians that are online have their own profile on some sort of platform. The number itself would seem to be low, at least in my mind, but I think it ignores or hides the simple fact that while 51 percent of Canadians would have some form of online profile, the number of online profiles attriubted to Canadians would probably represent a number significantly higher than the number of online users. The group that is represented by the 51 percent would probably have, on average, 2 - 3 of these types of profiles.

This article suggests that the Web 2.0 platform, spearheaded by social media and social platforms, is a good example of how Enterprises can interact with the consumer and get a better understanding of their wants and needs. This again would seem to be fairly obvious, but I’m frequently floored by the inability of companies to grasp the simple concepts and features that new technologies have created.

With minimal investment, a company could easily carve out a unique niche that allows for the best possible product and/or service to be defined by careful and creative co-ordination by those interested in the product and/or service and those that provide them.

I love the irony in seeing an article about a report on the FBI’s internal security being somewhat lacking. With several movies having come out in the last little while about these types of agencies (The Good Shephard, The Departed) and a recent conversation about some of the classic computer-ish movies (Hackers, The Net), can we expect to see these two genres two crossover in the near future? The Departed even touches on security, to a degree, when Matt Damon is trying to access the file for the undercover operative but is thwarted by a carefully chosen password - the operatives real name. Probably doesn’t have capital letters and no numbers or ascii characters - I see the lack of security already! The report suggested that the lack of security was more related to an insider attack.

I remember the first time I heard about Y2k (although the actual year escapes me - 1995 or so). I was at a Comdex conference at Science World (Telus World of Science?) and the speaker mentioned the Y2k situation and how Cobol programmers had been booked solid trying to fix this oversight. This article talks about dead and dying computer skills, including Cobol programming, C programming, and ColdFusion.

Paul Kedrosky, one of my favourite bloggers has a couple good articles to check out. One on U.S. online ad spending and a couple on Google are intersting (here and here), and he has an interesting take on Plaxo and their connectedness data. I really like the two on Google, as they raise questions on the company that aren’t asked often enough, especially if you read the comments on the blog post that he links to by Jeff Barr. Finally, one that might not appeal to everyone is an article on FAHF-2 and Herbal Medicine. If nothing else, it brings back fond memories of my biochemistry days in University - I miss them, I miss the information I learned, but reading over that quick clip, I’m content to not be mutating little white mice.

Quickly following up on our article about what isn’t Web 2.0 is a quick look at what is, or at least might be, included under the umbrella term. In an article on Computerworld, John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems Inc, talks about Web 2.0 technology and the way it has helped him improve his ability to communicate effectively. Chambers talks about different communication platforms, like video, text messaging, and how sites like MySpace.com (specifically mentioned), and similar sites within the niche allow young people to better communicate with each other and express themselves. Providing employees with similar, on-click methods of communication will be a big step taken by Enterprises large and small to allow more efficient workplace environments, and Chambers believes that video will be the ultimate tool in facilitating this.

Cisco recently made headlines on the Web 2.0 front with their acquisition of WebEx, and continues to push similar technologies.