Z Trek: The Alan Zeichick Weblog
Me and King Kong Bundy
It was 1988 or 1989 — can't be sure exactly. That was the era when there were dozen of personal-computer manufacturers, and when it was vital to make the twice-annual pilgrimage to COMDEX. That's where you'd not only find the hottest new…
Our fun new doctor’s office scale
I've always liked those "balance beam" scales they have in doctors' offices. You know, the kind where you stand on the scale and push little weights back and forth until it tells you how much you weigh. (Technically, it tells you how much you…
"Don’t be my Valentine"
Maybe I'm not sufficiently romantic, but there's always been something strange to me about Valentine's Day. From being forced to bring little Valentine's cards for my classmates in elementary school (as a mandatory classroom activity), to being…
ATM cards limits: How does this work again?
For many years, the daily cash limit that we could take out of an automated teller machine has been $300. Today, my wife and I received new ATM cards from our bank.The new cards say that our "Daily ATM withdrawal limit" has been raised to $409.How…
10 Secrets of SharePoint Success
San Diego — At the SharePoint Best Practices conference here today, the keynote speaker provided the ultimate SharePoint resource: a list of 10 steps to success with SharePoint.SharePoint Best Practices is produced by Mindsharp, which is a…
SD Times != San Diego Times
Memo to self: Remember, when attending events or meetings in San Diego, to register as "Software Development Times," not as "SD Times."I always cringe when I hear the question, "Oh, you're with the San Diego Times?"Presumably I'd have a similar…
Alan’s Macintosh & iPhone blog goes on holiday
For those of you who have been following my separate Mac & iPhone blog: As of today, Feb. 1, it's taking a little vacation.My blog had been provided courtesy of TechWeb's bMighty small-business site since 2007. I've received a lot of fan mail,…
Farewell, John, R.I.P.
You went before your time... may your memory be for a blessing.Read the obituary in the Ogden, Utah, Standard-Examiner.Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick
Happy anniversary, SD Times!
Did you know that BZ Media was started nearly a decade ago? We founded the company in 1999. Right now, we're finishing up the 9th anniversary issue of our flagship, SD Times, the Industry Newspaper for Software Development Managers.We launched…
The world’s fastest dragonfly: 0-60 in 2.5 seconds
It's not really a dragonfly, but I think it looks like one — it's the 2009 Shelby Ultimate Aero EV. According to Shelby SuperCars, it's the world's fastest production car.The company says,SSC will display its AESP in the Ultimate Aero EV in…
Goodbye, Redmond Developer News
Another software-development publication bites the dust, as 1105 Media Inc. shutters Redmond Developer News. RDN was a twice-monthly newspaper for Microsoft-centered development managers that launched in 2006. Think of it as a short-lived "SD…
Reader nominations open for SD Times 100
It’s that time again! The editors of SD Times are beginning their deliberations, choosing the leaders and innovators who had the greatest impact on software development during 2008. SD Times subscribers are invited to participate by offering…
Announcing SharePoint TechCon Boston
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEComing Off Its Blow-Out Bay Area Conference, BZ Media Launches SPTechCon Boston in June 2009The Only SharePoint Technology Conference in the Northeast U.S. will satisfy a strong demand for education on Microsoft's popular…
SharePoint TechCon Success!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESPTechCon San Francisco: The SharePoint Technology Conference, Succeeds with Blow-Out CrowdDespite the recession, attendees flock to BZ Media's debut SharePoint Technology ConferenceHuntington, N.Y., January 27, 2009 —…
MacBook Wheel – I want one!
Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick
Rebooting computer science, Part 2
Computer science has an image problem. That’s one of the conclusions drawn at the Rebooting Computing Summit, which I attended a couple of weeks ago.Last week, I wrote about some of the challenges facing computer science. I covered what we…
Former President Bush…
"Former President Bush." Those are three of the most beautiful words in the English language.What a great speech our new president gave. I'm proud to be an American!Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick
Rebooting computer science
What is computer science? Why are so few young people, at least in the United States, choosing to enter the field? Isn’t computer science just programming? What can we do about it?Last week, I was privileged to attend the Rebooting Computing…
Borland back in the frying pan
Here we go again, as the company which once had the best brand in software development jumps back into the blender.You’ve probably seen the cheery stories that broke yesterday, about Tod Nielsen, former CEO of Borland, becoming COO of VMware.…
Remembering the ‘Rules of the Garage’
Hewlett-Packard has long been an inspirational company. Not just because of its current prowess in the hardware and software markets, of course, but because of many stories about its origins in a Palo Alto, Calif., garage, back in 1939. Considered…
A good year, year of peace
What a year! In the past 12 months, we’ve seen a lot of change – some good, some bad. The global economic meltdown, top of mind for so many people, is squarely in the “bad” category.Across the board, and across the world, jobs are in…
Flash RAM evolving much, much faster than Moore’s Law
Moore's Law talks about transistor density doubling every 18-24 months. How about every five months — or less?On August 4, 2008, I purchased a new flash-memory key. Specifically, I purchased a Kingston DT100 Data Traveler, capacity 8GB, for…
Dr. Dobb’s: Soon to become a monthly section in InformationWeek
It's the end of the venerable Dr. Dobb's Journal. DDJ is turning into "Dr. Dobbs Report — A Special Software Development Monthly Section in InformationWeek Magazine."TechWeb — a division of United Business Media — has long used InformationWeek…
Would you be insulted if someone threw a waffle at you?
I mean, really!See "The Shoe Heard Round the World" in today's New York Times, written by John Kenney.Z Trek Copyright (c) Alan Zeichick
Redwood Collaborative Media acquires ST&P group from BZ Media
Breaking news today, and we're all very excited!Redwood Collaborative Media Acquires Software Test & Performance from BZ Media LLCNew Company to Provide Knowledge, Insights, and Resources for the Professional Software Test and Quality Assurance…
"Mother of All Demos" celebration online
Earlier this week was the 40th anniversary of Doug Engelbart's "Mother of All Demos," which is described as:It was the world debut of personal and interactive computing: for the first time, the public saw a computer mouse, which controlled a…
The mis-education of software developers
When Bjarne Stroustrup talks, we listen — and when Bjarne decries the training of software developers in our colleges and universities, we need to do something about it.Bjarne, of course, is the designer of C++. After working for 24 years…
Forcing "free" magazines on people isn’t cool, Amazon and Wired
Here's an open letter to Amazon.com (and Wired Magazine) from Ted Bahr, the "B" of BZ Media. I don't blame him for being annoyed! Each month, I receive many magazines that I didn't sign up for, many of which come because I'm an American Express…
JavaFX: Do we need another rich Internet platform?
Sun’s JavaFX is here. It was announced at the JavaOne conference – in 2007. Sun began delivering early bits of its rich Internet application software this summer. As I wrote about last May, Sun is talking big about having a common display…
Today’s media directory winner: PRSourceCode
Within the past hour, I've fielded two off-target PR pitches, thanks to an "alert" sent out by PRSourceCode, a public relations directory service. PRSourceCode describes itself asPRSourceCode is a content service provider (CSP) serving journalism,…