IBM’s CICS software is apparently going strong, even after four decades. CICS means Customer Information Control System, and is pronounced “kicks.” It’s a mainframe transaction processing application. Massively scalable, massively reliable. Back in the early 1980s, I worked with CICS on IBM System/370 mainframes, and did some integration programming around it. Haven’t thought about it […]
Yesterday, Western Digital announced a one-terabyte hard drive for notebook computers. The WD Scorpio Blue SATA 2.5-inch hard drive — 12.5 mm, 5200 RPM, 1TB, $249 — blows my mind. It was only in April 2007 that the industry first saw a one-terabyte desktop drive in the 3.5-inch format. (Andrew Binstock and I had a […]
How often do you buy a car? Some drivers turn in their cars every couple of years and get a new model. Others drive them until the wheels come off. Others split the difference, trading in every five or six years. Generally speaking, people change cars because something wrong with the car that they have, […]
How often do you buy a car? Some drivers turn in their cars every couple of years and get a new model. Others drive them until the wheels come off. Others split the difference, trading in every five or six years. Generally speaking, people change cars because something wrong with the car that they have, […]
This essay about meetings, “Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule,” written by Paul Graham, is right on the money. I find that I can either set up a work day for meetings, or set it up for being productive. That’s why I like to cluster meetings all into one or two days a week whenever possible. That […]
Congratulations to the publishing team at 1105 Media. That company is taking over the production of Microsoft’s MSDN Magazine and TechNet Magazine. Those two magazines are owned by Microsoft’s Magazine Group. For many years, they have been produced, under contract, by United Business Media. (The UBM division that produced the magazines used to be called […]
I come not to bury Sun Microsystems, but to praise it. Oracle’s purchase of Sun is not yet complete; the deal hasn’t legally closed. However, the end is near: The shareholders have approved the deal and, on July 16, Sun’s board voted to accept the US$7.4 billion acquisition offer. All that’s left are the legalities. […]
Remember 3.5-inch floppy disks? While poking around the basement this morning, I found an old USB-attachable 3.5-inch drive. It came with a server— I forget which one — right around the time when servers stopped including floppy drives. This particular server manufacturer included a USB floppy drive to assist in loading up device drivers or […]
For several years, I’ve been sharing e-mail spam scams with my ZTrek blog readers. The primary reason has been to warn people against responding to such messages. My hope is that when people receive questionable messages, they’re enter some parts of it into their favorite search engine — and my blog will come up. By […]
On my to-do list: Preparing to teach two classes at the Niche Digital Conference. The event is coming up soon — September 21-22, in Minneapolis. This is going to be a great conference. Billed as “the first digital-only conference for the niche media world,” it’s put on by my friend Carl Landau, one of the […]
Last week, I was heading out with a friend, and she offered to let me pilot her Acura. Settling into the driver’s seat, I reached down, pulled down a lever, and adjusted the way-too-high steering wheel into a more comfortable position. My friend stared at me. “I didn’t know it did that,” she said. She’s […]
Do you have beautiful potted plants? Make them even happier with a little flowerhead. These little wool miniatures can be placed anywhere you have a little spot that needs brightening. A flower pot, on your desk, anywhere. There are lots of adorable flowerheads, each cuter than the next. Flowerheads are lovingly created by my cousin […]
My friend Agnes owns several Swiss Mountain Dogs. One of them — Roxy — was named a winner of Virginia’s Lucky Dog Contest, sponsored by the Virginia Lottery! The photo is of Maverick and Roxy. I’m not a Dog Person, but the Swissies are beautiful, beautiful animals, and under Agnes’ care, they’re very well-behaved. You […]
My email inbox was filled this morning with questions and opinions after news came out about Google’s new Chrome OS. Was this another frontal assault on Microsoft by the Googleplex? Is Google becoming too big and powerful? What’s going on? There’s less to this announcement than breathless pundits are panting. Nobody should be surprised that […]
My email inbox was filled this morning with questions and opinions after news came out about Google’s new Chrome OS. Was this another frontal assault on Microsoft by the Googleplex? Is Google becoming too big and powerful? What’s going on? My feeling is that there’s less to this announcement than breathless pundits are panting. Nobody […]
You’ll want to be in San Mateo, Calif., on March 1–3, 2010. Why? Because of ESDC 2010, the Enterprise Software Development Conference, a conference that we’re launching for development managers, software architects and developers, in the San Francisco Bay Area. ESDC 2010 addresses a tremendous need in software development. Over the past few years, we’ve […]
I have been recognized by the Association for Computing Machinery as a Senior Member. (I’ve belonged to the ACM since my college days.) The ACM Senior Member Grade is described as: The Senior Member Grade recognizes those ACM members with at least 10 years of professional experience and 5 years of continuous Professional Membership who […]
I love to save money, but this deal still seems too good to be true. My GPS is a Garmin StreetPilot c550, which is an excellent (though now discontinued) unit purchased in mid-2006. (See some comments I blogged about it.) Though bulkier than newer GPS units, the c550 has everything I want, including turn-by-turn directions […]
Question: I just caught your post-SD Times 100 wrap-up. I actually have a general question about the awards — do you pare down the entries and combine then into like categories? It seems like there were many more categories listed on the nomination form than final categories with winners. I hate to toss another question […]
Galileo is coming. That’s the name of this year’s Eclipse release train, scheduled for Wednesday, June 24. Given the Eclipse Foundation’s reputation, I expect the train to arrive at the station on schedule. There’s a lot of goodness in the Galileo toolchain, as you can read in Alex Handy’s story. The simultaneous release is centered […]
I am very impressed with the June 10 “Conversations” column in the New York Times, “Advice for High School Graduates.” David Brooks and Gail Collins offer genuine insights. You should read the entire column, but I wish to quote three points made by Gail Collins, because she’s 100% on the mark. • The most important […]
The awards are over, and now it’s time to deal with the post-award clean-up. We began disclosing the 2009 SD Times 100 last Thursday, June 11, via Twitter; that was good fun. The official announcement was on Monday, June 15. You can read the story, Such the Drama, and complete list of winners, on SDTimes.com. […]
This one is just charming. Don’t respond, don’t be fooled into providing any bank information to scammers. From: Gift DiopSubject: GOOD DAY MY LOVE Good day, How are you doing today? my name is Miss gift diop a citizen of Kenya living in Dakar Senegal,i’m 24 years old girl still single, please i need your […]
Another spam scam! If I ask for the debit card, there will be either a large fee, or they’ll say that there’s a problem (due to the large sum) and thus they’ll need to do the wire transfer. Hmm. Should I send them my bank info? I don’t think so! This scam was sent from […]
It’s June 15, the day when SD Times announces the 2009 SD Times 100. Well, this year we did something different and “leaked” the winners last Thursday using Twitter. (Look for the hashtag #sdtimes100.) But today’s the official announcement. The SD Times 100 judging process literally begins in January, when the editors start their deliberations […]
Oh, yes, I’m really going to believe that the G20’s “Office of the Management and Payment Bureau” in London wants to happily send me £500,000. And what are the odds that if you opt for the cheque, you’ll be told that there’s a problem and they’ll need your bank information for a wire transfer? Don’t […]
“Dad, what’s this sound?” My teenager has been using the telephone for most of his life. A few days ago, he went to call some family friends, who had left us a message offering to let us use their S.F. Giants tickets. (They’re really good friends.) After he dialed, he wandered over with a puzzled […]
Earlier this morning, I was cleaning up someone’s blog post. Not because they wrote something bad, but because they committed the ultimate faux pas: They pasted directly from Microsoft Word into the blog engine. The bizarre HTML tags output from Word resulted in goofy output as well as a polluted RSS stream. Many people have […]
A friend referred me a company that sells a vertical Lamborghini-style door hinge kit for Skippy, our little Miata. I dunno. The kit is expensive ($1,800), might void the warranty, and although lambo doors look cool, they’re not very practical. Safety is also an issue. What do you think? Here’s a link to the company […]
This press release speaks for itself. Are you thirsty yet? The machines cost from $2,495 and up. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: DamonCompany: American Soda MachinesPhone: 303-478-6193Email: email hidden; JavaScript is requiredWeb: www.americansodamachines.com Customized Vintage Soda Machines For anyone who loves enjoys technology or makes their living in the digital industry, a tech themed soda machine […]