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My technology week in review ending 2009.11.13

Mon, 11/16/2009 - 16:03 — DavidSky

I've been making updates to my Perl script that summarizes my weekly Del.icio.us technology tags. Here's another week's summary, including sections on generating Tag clouds, The Singularity, DB2 and SQL, as well as the podcasts and TED videos I found interesting. For those of you on Twitter, the stories relate to @timoreilly @scramm @Bre @makerbot

Generating Tag Clouds

Tag clouds can be an effective way to categorize content, and I thought I'd add one to my weekly summary, so here are some pages I considered:
Tag Cloud in Processing question | processing.org
Someone looking for help on a couple of early drafts of a cloud tag in Processing.

Delicious tags: tagcloud processing java forum commented-on

Interactive animated tag cloud in Processing | Bryan Leister's blog
An animated tag cloud written in Processing ( a Java environment ). More popular tags are larger, and they are all tied together using the Bouncy Bubbles Processing application written by Keith Peters. It looks nice, but I didn't get a better understanding of the relationship between tags after trying it for only a couple of minutes.

Delicious tags: tagcloud tag cloud Java Processing

Wowzio's World of Widgets: A Tag Cloud Widget for your Blog
Interactive tag cloud widget that will run on many blogging platforms. You can set the colours, etc...

Delicious tags: tagcloud blog tag cloud widget

Perl HTML::TagCloud | cpan.org
Perl module to generate a Tag cloud - output is HTML styled with CSS and links.

Delicious tags: perl cloud html cpan software tagcloud

The Singularity

Artificial Intelligence, augmented reality, human-robotic interfaces, "our intelligence will become increasingly nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today".
The Quantified Self -
Tools for knowing your own mind and body.

Delicious tags: blog technology psychology lifehacks productivity identity singularity

h+ Magazine
h+ covers technological, scientific, and cultural trends that are changing — and will change — human beings in fundamental ways. We will be following developments in areas like NBIC (nano-bio-info-cog), longevity, performance enhancement and self-modification, Virtual Reality, "The Singularity," and other areas that both promise and threaten to radically alter our lives and our view of the world and ourselves.

More than that, h+ aims to reflect this newest edge culture by featuring creative expressions of humanity on a razor's edge where daily life and science fiction seem to be merging.

Delicious tags: technology science future culture design robotics singularity philosophy transhumanism magazine

SQL and DB2

Links related to SQL or more specifically IBM DB2.
Technology Explorer for IBM DB2 | SourceForge.net
"The Technology Explorer for IBM DB2 is a light weight, web based console for DB2 that helps you learn about DB2 using demonstrations and tutorials. The TE is designed from the ground up to be easy to use and customize to suit your needs."

Delicious tags: DB2 SQL opensource database tools php IBM software monitoring performance

Using DB2 pureScale to Eliminate Over-Provisioning of Database Software | Conor's DB2 News and Personal Views
Details on how some clients plan to use the “on-demand capacity” aspect of the IBM DB2 pureScale feature.

Delicious tags: SQL DB2 IBM purescale blog

Oracle to DB2 Conversion Guide: Compatibility Made Easy | IBM Redbooks

"In this IBM® Redbooks® publication, we describe the new DB2 Oracle Database compatibility features. The latest version of DB2® includes extensive native support for the PL/SQL procedural language, new data types, scalar functions, improved concurrency, built-in packages, OCI, SQL*Plus, and more. These features dramatically improve the ease of developing applications that run on both DB2 and Oracle, and simplify the process of moving from Oracle to DB2."

Delicious tags: IBM redbook SQL DB2 Oracle OCI

IC viewlets in the Information Management Software for z/OS Solutions Information Center
3 Flash viewlets on using the information center features, 20 minutes in total.

Delicious tags: IBM IC Eclipse documentation SQL viewlet

Articles I commented on

Articles or blog posts that I commented on.
Tag Cloud in Processing question | processing.org
Someone looking for help on a couple of early drafts of a cloud tag in Processing.

Delicious tags: tagcloud processing java forum commented-on

Podcasts

The various podcasts I listened to this week

Tim O'Reilly discusses open source and the future | FLOSS Weekly 73

Tim O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media. He works to spread knowledge on past, present, and future technologies though his company. Beyond publishing is recognized as a leading visionary for future technology trends. He is an advocate of open source, open standards, and is pushing for intellectual property reform. See his 'Radar' blog at http://radar.oreilly.com/

Delicious tags: FLOSS-weekly opensource innovation podcast future
Associated Twitter users: @timoreilly

8 Things We Hate About IT - Harvard Business IdeaCast 97
Susan Cramm, author of HarvardBusiness.org's Having IT Your Way blog lists 8 reasons business people hate IT based on her blog post at http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbr/cramm/2008/06/8-things-we-hate-about-it.htmland the follow-up 8 Reasons You Should Love IT http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbr/cramm/2008/06/8-reasons-you-should-love-it.html

Delicious tags: HBR IdeaCast podcast IT Harvard Cramm
Associated Twitter users: @scramm

Retaining Employees When Money Is Tight - Harvard Business IdeaCast 99
In bad times ( and good ) it isn't always possible to retain good employees with salary increases, but there are other effective ways to keep good employees. (Unfortunately many of the earlier HBR podcasts had poor or uneven sound, and this is one of them.)

Delicious tags: HBR IdeaCast podcast business Harvard Bielaszka-DuVernay

Bre Pettis of MakerBot | FLOSS Weekly 92

A discussion with Bre Pettis of MakerBot Industries ( http://www.makerbot.com/) about their affordable open source 3D printer for home users. For more details see http://wiki.twit.tv/wiki/FLOSS_Weekly_92

Delicious tags: FLOSS-weekly opensource 3D podcast robotics Pettis
Associated Twitter users: @Bre @makerbot

Chinese Cost Innovation | Harvard Business IdeaCast 66

Peter Williamson, co-author of Dragons at Your Door: How Chinese Cost Innovation is Disrupting Global Competition discusses his book. Unfortunately many of the earlier HBR podcasts had poor or uneven sound, and this is one of them. For more details on the book, see http://harvardbusiness.org/product/dragons-at-your-door-how-chinese-cost-innovation-i/an/2084-HBK-ENG

Delicious tags: HBR podcast Harvard China innovation business global economy Williamson

Is Your Business Ready for H1N1? | Harvard Business IdeaCast 170
Dr. Robert Blendon, professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Kennedy School of Government discusses the possible business impact of the H1N1 flu pandemic, based on "More than 200 corporate and government leaders came together at Harvard Medical School in Boston to learn about the most effective practices in preparing for a pandemic. This report captures the key takeaways from this leadership summit."

Delicious tags: podcast HBR Harvard h1n1 flu business readiness disaster Blendon

Trade-Off author Kevin Maney | Tech Nation
An interview with "Kevin Maney, author of the book Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don't. Kevin talks about the trade-off we make when we buy products. Are the products hip, cool, or high-quality? Or is cheap and easy more important?" He makes a good case for this, and it really seems to define all popular products/companies from Wallmart and iTunes, through the ups and downs at Starbucks, and even individuals ( ie keep the low paid commodity employees and the unique top employees, with less need for the middle-tier ).

Delicious tags: technation book podcast Maney fidelity

Confessions of a Radical Industrialist author Ray Anderson | Tech Nation
An interesting conversation with a very interesting man: "Ray Anderson, the founder and chair of the world's largest manufacturer of modular carpet. He discusses his book, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist", and talks about his personal epiphany around the environmental impact of carpet."

Delicious tags: technation podcast anderson carpet book green environment technology recycling economy sustainability

Citizen Engineer author Greg Papadopoulos | Tech Nation
"Greg Papadopoulos, co-author of Citizen Engineer: A Handbook for Socially Responsible Engineering. The book focuses on two topics that are becoming vitally important in the day-to-day work of engineers: ECO engineering and intellectual property (IP)."

Delicious tags: technation book citizen engineering environment green IP law podcast technology

TED talks

The TED talks I watched this week. They are all highly recommended

Oliver Sacks: What hallucination reveals about our minds | Video on TED.com

"Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks brings our attention to Charles Bonnett syndrome -- when visually impaired people experience lucid hallucinations. He describes the experiences of his patients in heartwarming detail and walks us through the biology of this under-reported phenomenon. "

Delicious tags: ted education video Sacks Bonnett imparement hallucinations

Ray Anderson on the business logic of sustainability | Video on TED.com
At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional take/make/waste industrial system on its head. In a gentle, understated way, he shares a powerful vision for sustainable commerce.

Delicious tags: ted video business environment economy green anderson carpet sustainability

Misha Glenny investigates global crime networks | Video on TED.com
"Journalist Misha Glenny spent several years in a courageous investigation of organized crime networks worldwide, which have grown to an estimated 15% of the global economy. From the Russian mafia, to giant drug cartels, his sources include not just intelligence and law enforcement officials but criminal insiders."

Delicious tags: ted video crime economy mafia communism