Z Trek: The Alan Zeichick Weblog

, , , , , ,

Android + Chrome = Confusion

What is going on at Google? I’m not sure, and neither are the usual pundits. Last week, Google announce that Andy Rubin, the long-time head of the Android team, is moving to another role within the company, and will be replaced by Sundar…
, ,

Is Big Data a fancy way of saying Big Social?

What do companies use Big Data technologies to analyze? Sales transactions. Social media trends. Scientific data. Social media trends. Weather readings. Social media trends. Prices for raw materials. Social media trends. Stock values. Social…
, , ,

Bug Invaders! Angry Code! World of Compilecraft!

Everything, it seems, is a game. When I use the Waze navigation app on my smartphone, I earn status for reporting red-light cameras. What’s next: If I check in code early to version-control system, do I win a prize? Get points? Become a Code…
, ,

Daily miracles and surviving in the desert

This is one of a series of articles I wrote for the monthly Bulletin of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, Calif. We were in trouble, and for a short time I thought my family's lives were in danger. It was August 2004, and Carole, Michael,…
, , ,

Big challenges with data and Big Data

Just about everyone is talking about Big Data, and I’m not only saying that because I’m conference chair for Big Data TechCon, coming up in April in Boston. Take Microsoft, for example. On Feb. 13, the company released survey results…
, , , ,

From Apple to Microsoft to Tesla, rumors abound

If there’s no news… well, let’s make some up. That’s my thought upon reading all the stories about Apple’s forthcoming iWatch – a product that, as far as anyone knows, doesn’t exist. That hasn’t stopped everyone from Forbes to…
, , , ,

The complications of cloud adoption

Cloud computing is seductive. Incredibly so. Reduced capital costs. No more power and cooling of a server closet or data center. High-speed Internet backbones. Outsourced disaster recovery. Advanced edge caching. Deployments are lightning…
,

You can’t analyze what you don’t capture

Big Data can sometimes mean Big Obstacles. And often those obstacles are simply that the Big Data isn’t there. That’s what more than 1400 CIOs told Robert Half Technology, a staffing agency. According to the study, whose data was…
,

Menorah, sukkah, and nu, grandchildren

This is one of a series of articles I wrote for the monthly Bulletin of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, Calif. Sandy Silverstein is a mensch. That's what I thought, upon meeting him via Skype in early January 2012, and in person…
,

Honors for the father of fuzzy logic, Lotfi Zadeh

“In contrast to classical logical systems, fuzzy logic is aimed at a formalization of modes of reasoning that are approximate rather than exact. Basically, a fuzzy logical system may be viewed as a result of fuzzifying a standard logical…
, , ,

Big Data, by any other name, would smell as sweet

Modern companies thrive by harnessing and interpreting data. The more data we have, and the more we focus on analyzing it, the better we can make decisions. Data about our customers, data about purchasing patterns, data about network throughput,…
, , ,

Movable walls in the garden

Today’s word is “open.” What does open mean in terms of open platforms and open standards? It’s a tricky concept. Is Windows more open than Mac OS X? Is Linux more open than Solaris? Is Android more open than iOS? Is the Java language…
,

Changing the calendar for the new year

This is one of a series of articles I wrote for the monthly Bulletin of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, Calif. In our home, January 1 brings an important ritual - the changing of the calendars. We have pretty pictorial calendars…
, ,

Write once run everywhere, version 2.0

In 1996, according to the Wikipedia, Sun Microsystems promised,  Java's write-once-run-everywhere capability along with its easy accessibility have propelled the software and Internet communities to embrace it as the de facto standard for…
, , , ,

When Big Data becomes Bad Data

The subject line in today's email from United Airlines was friendly. “Alan, it's been a while since your last trip from Austin.” Friendly, yes. Effective? Not at all close. Alan, you see, lives in northern California, not in central…
,

Shaimot in the Genizah

This is one of a series of articles I wrote for the monthly Bulletin of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, Calif. Let's explore four of the most commonly asked questions - usually posed in the parking lot on Sunday afternoons, which…
, , ,

The API as an overloaded operator

Once upon a time, application programming interfaces were hooks that applications used to tap into operating system services. Want to open a port? Call an API. Need to find a printer? Call an API. Open a winder? Call an API. Write to a file?…
, , , , , ,

Happy Thanksgiving

Tomorrow Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving. This is an odd holiday. It’s partly religious, but also partly secular, dating back to the English colonization of eastern North America. A recent tradition is for people to share what they…
, , ,

The joy of being a geek: 60-core chips, self-driving cars

So much I could write about today. The U.S. presidential elections. Intel’s new 60-core PCIX-based coprocessor chip. The sudden departure of Steven Sinofsky from Microsoft, after three years as president of the Windows Division. The Android…
, , ,

Echoing the echosystem

Echosystem. What a marvelous typo! An email from an analyst firm referred several times to a particular software development ecosystem, but in one of the instances, she misspelled “ecosystem” as “echosystem.” As a technology writer and…
,

Bring a friend to synagogue!

This is one of a series of articles I wrote for the monthly Bulletin of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, Calif. Judaism is a communal religion. We celebrate together, we mourn together, we worship together, we learn together, we play…
, , , ,

Hurricane Sandy can’t stop the tech from Microsoft and Google

It take a lot to push the U.S. elections off the television screen, but Hurricane Sandy managed the trick. We would like to express our sympathies to those affected by the storm – too many lives were lost, homes and property destroyed, businesses…

With Windows 8, one size must fit all

It is too early to praise Windows 8. It’s also too early to pan it. But it’s never too early to have an opinion. Mine is, “The one-size-fits-all UX paradigm doesn't scale.”I’m a fan of the mobile Metro user experience – excuse me,…

Cross-platform mobile dev, tablets, Windows Phone and BlackBerry

It’s hard to get away from mobile development. Yes, not every organization is building apps for mobile devices. Yes, only a small number of developers within a typical organization are likely focused on mobility. The others are doing stuff…

Invent vs. buy: Big companies do both

When you have billions of dollars in your piggy bank, you can go on a big shopping spree and hoover up some decent technology.According to BerkeryNoyes, an investment bank, there were 4,151 mergers and acquisitions in the online/mobile market…
, , ,

Skeuomorph: Fake leather textures on your mobile apps – good or bad?

Skeuomorph. I learned this word a few weeks ago, after a flurry of stories broke on various mass-media websites about an apparent kerfuffle within Apple about user interface design. A skeuomorph is a design element that looks functional,…

Secure those passwords!

Stories about hacked or stolen password files keep coming. One of the most recent is a breech at IEEE.org – where 100,000 plaintext passwords were stolen a few weeks ago. The IEEE confirmed it a couple of days ago:IEEE Statement on Security…

Reimagining the taxonomy of computing

Interactive whiteboards! Ambient intelligence! A lot can change in 14 years! That’s the conclusion you have to reach after reading the latest iteration of the Computing Classification System, maintained and published by the Association for…
,

Building and protecting the Sukkat Shalom, the Shelter of Peace – High Holy Days remarks

My 2012/5773 Rosh Hashanah speech at Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, Calif. Hashkiveinu Adonai Elokeinu l'shalom, v'ha-amideynu malkeinu l'chayim, ufros aleinu sukkat sh'lomecha Grant, Eternal One, that we may lie down in peace…

Learn how to cope with Big Data

The tangible benefits of Big Data analytics are well known. You can read about them in the IT press – and also in business journals and the daily newspaper. Many books have been published about the "why" of Big Data. Conferences devoted to…