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My Memories of Maynard Hill

Today I was saddened to read of the passing of Maynard Hill in the Washington Post . Mr. Hill was a pioneer in unmanned aerial vehicles, and set many records for speed, duration, and altitude for radio-controlled aircraft. His most recent was the first trans-Atlantic flight of a model aircraft in 2003. I interviewed Maynard Hill at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab twenty-seven years ago when I was researching a book on the future of military aviation. I had been assigned the chapters on rotary wing flight and unmanned aerial vehicles. I trekked to the APL in Laurel, Maryland, and shared lunch with Mr. Hill. He told me about his projects, his views on the future of unmanned aerial vehicles (which turned out to be right on target), and his hobby of radio-controlled aircraft. I was amazed to hear stories such as when he set a distance flight record by driving north over 500 km from Virginia to Pennsylvania, controlling his aircraft from the back seat of a convertible.

Kinect is for More than Games

I deal with a lot of exciting technology, but I can't remember anything that stirs quite as much enthusiasm as the work that InfoStrat's Advanced Technology Group is doing with Microsoft Kinect. Using Kinect with your PC opens up new ways of human computer interaction, and there are practical applications galore for government and business. Our Surface channel http://www.youtube.com/user/infostratcville has some new videos showing Kinect used to manipulate maps, medical images, and more. The low cost of Kinect is also a big part of the wow factor. While Microsoft Surface is impressive, I never could quite see my way clear to spend $12,500 to put one in my living room, and the 300 lb shipping weight made me think twice about taking it on the road. Kinect is available nationwide for only $150, and millions already own it for their Xbox at home. Microsoft has announced plans to provide new software for Kinect, and is assigning people to dream up new applications. This shou

Potbelly versus Subway -- The Value of Happiness

My office has several sandwich shops within two blocks, but the two closest are Subway and Potbelly. Although I have to walk a bit farther, I find myself choosing Potbelly again and again, and it's not just the sandwiches themselves. Employees at my Potbelly make me feel like they enjoy their work and are happy to see me when I walk in the door. It doesn't hurt that they sometimes have live music. Sometimes the cashier sings along. At my Subway, on the other hand, sandwich makers seem like they are serving some kind of sentence, and will be freed at the end of the day if they are lucky. While Potbelly asks me for my order before I reach the counter, Subway asks me for my order later, and somehow seems slower at moving people through the line. Sometimes I am even asked for my order twice at Subway. I recall an outstanding manager at Subway several years ago who was outgoing and kept his staff smiling, but this somehow faded after a management change. The other Subway in m

Planning for Cloud Computing Failures

Last week's outage for some of Amazon's cloud computing customers has highlighted the importance of planning for cloud failures. While the large data centers run by the most competent companies such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have enviable performance and reliability, they are not perfect. Customers of cloud computing must still reckon with backups, failover, and contingency plans if they want to ensure a high level of availability. I predict that we will witness a significant number of cloud computing failures which will affect large and small companies, governments, and individuals. Some will be from fumbles by the major players, but an even larger number will come from new companies and dabblers in cloud computing. The whitehot hype around cloud computing will create large numbers of businesses that ultimately fail. Cloud computing is creating a smaller echo of the dot com boom, with small companies armed with ambitious business plans trying to carve out thei

Most Expensive Apple Laptop Purchase?

Today I saw an RFP on GSA eBuy for a single Apple MacBook Pro. I wonder how much the RFP, bid evaluation, and award will cost for this commodity item. How many vendors will respond? Does USDA not have a more efficient way to purchase this hardware? Here are the details: RFQ ID: RFQ555223 Reference #: 555223 RFQ Title: Apple Computer Category: 70: 132 32 RFQ Issue Date: 03/30/2011 04:14:28 PM EDT Contact: SHERI MARCELO Department of Agriculture sheri.marcelo@ars.usda.gov RFQ Close Date: 04/05/2011 03:00:00 PM EDT (Time Remaining: 4D 22H 48M) Delivery: Deliver 30 Days From Date of Award to Date of Completion Description: Specifications: 15-inch: 2.2 GHz Model: MC723LL Part number: Z0M1 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display Backlit Keyboard (English)& User's Guide AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook Pro Part numb

Microsoft's Brad Wilson on Dynamics CRM 2011

Lauren Carlson of Software Advice has published a series of video interviews with Microsoft Dynamics CRM general manager Brad Wilson. State of the CRM Software Market My notes: In last ten years CRM has become a necessity and not optional Value of your company is your customer relationships Social CRM is a new trend Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers four things: a complete suite, flexible configuration and deep customization, user experience, and affordability "Malicious compliance" means barely using a deployed CRM How Can Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partners Survive in the Cloud Era? My notes: ISVs can allow customers to download trials of their CRM solutions. Partners will likely have higher number of leads to handle Likely to close deals without ever meeting the customer in person Smart partners will learn how to handle a larger number of leads and customer trials Majority of services revenue has come from domain expertise and high value consulting What Percentage of Customers ar

The Victory of Quantity Over Quality

Technology and market efficiency are combining forces to give us more and more of worse and worse, and it's hard to tell what the net effect will be on our quality of life. For us in the technology business, as well as affluent young people around the world, we have more and more gadgets, transactions, news sources and diversions than ever before. We have greater choices on where to get our news, for instance, and can drop traditional media such as the daily newspaper or network TV news show, while getting more information than ever before on our favorite topics. Real, tangible things are getting cheaper as well. I pay less for a men's suit today in nominal terms, not to mention inflation adjusted terms, than I did twenty years ago. Food is inexpensive, and we know what the result is. In the information economy, there are vast numbers of things from software to information that are at no charge, especially if I'm willing to expose myself to advertising as part of the deal.

Controlling Maps with Microsoft Kinect

Although it was developed for the XBox360 game system to compete with the Nintendo Wii, the Kinect motion sensor also has serious applications. Developers have created drivers to use Kinect on your PC, enabling control of applications with large and small gestures -- no mouse or touch screen required. Here is a video that illustrates how you can manipulate an onscreen map with Kinect: I expect that many government conference rooms and situation rooms will add this to the touch screens on tables and walls such as Microsoft Surface. Unlike the touchscreens, however, the Kinect is quite inexpensive. A piece of the future is yours for $150. Does this look like something out of Minority Report? You bet it does.