• Nested data structures keep coming up, especially for log files

    Updated: 2010-07-31 04:42:06
    Nested data structures have come up several times now, almost always in the context of log files. Google has published about a project called Dremel. Per Tasso Agyros, one of Dremel’s key concepts is nested data structures. Those arrays that the XLDB/SciDB folks keep talking about are meant to be nested data structures. Scientific data is of [...]

  • Teradata, Xkoto Gridscale (RIP), and active-active clustering

    Updated: 2010-07-31 02:23:57
    Having gotten a number of questions about Teradata’s acquisition of Xkoto, I leaned on Teradata for an update, and eventually connected with Scott Gnau. Takeaways included: Teradata is discontinuing Xkoto’s existing product Gridscale, which Scott characterized as being too OLTP-focused to be a good fit for Teradata. Teradata hopes and expects that existing Xkoto Gridscale [...]

  • Microstrategy technology notes

    Updated: 2010-07-29 11:51:42
    Earlier this week, Microstrategy made Mark LaRow available to talk about technology. The proximate reason was my recent mention of Microstrategy’s mobile BI emphasis, but we also touched on Microstrategy’s approach to in-memory business intelligence and some other subjects. We didn’t go into the depth of a similar conversation I had recently with Qlik Technologies, [...]

  • Kickfire unlikely to survive

    Updated: 2010-07-27 12:56:48
    Following up on a previous report of Kickfire’s troubles — a Kickfire customer tipped me off that Kickfire told him they’re selling their IP and engineers, and the Kickfire products will be discontinued. At this time, I have no idea who the lucky buyer is.

  • Insurers' Technology Modernization Efforts Often Start With Claims

    Updated: 2010-07-26 05:15:03
    Rip-and-replace technology modernization efforts can be risky. But componentization is enabling phased transformations, and many carriers are starting with claims.

  • Modern Technologies and Legacy Systems

    Updated: 2010-07-26 01:00:00
    In the world of core P&C systems the most common approach to modernization has historically been the ‘big bang’ replacement.

  • Celent Insurance Newsletter, July 2010

    Updated: 2010-07-26 01:00:00
    Celent Insurance Newsletter, July 2010

  • Ingres history

    Updated: 2010-07-25 20:37:18
    Roland Bouman reminded us on Twitter of an old post I did on another blog about Ingres history, the guts of which was: Ingres and Oracle were developed around the same time, in rapidly-growing startup companies. Ingres generally was the better-featured product, moving a little earlier than Oracle into application development tools, distributed databases, etc., whereas [...]

  • del.icio.us: Deliberate Practice - Work Literacy

    Updated: 2010-07-24 21:56:35
    Work Literacyworkliteracy blogsesh_kumar

  • Obfuscate clearly!

    Updated: 2010-07-24 20:52:06
    Quite frequently — sometimes even in so many words — I find myself compelled to give clients some classic advice from Strunk and White: Obfuscate clearly! Actually, I have not succeeded in finding the edition in which I recall seeing that phrasing. Probably it was the second, which I presume Paul Kedrosky also had. But in a [...]

  • How I Spent My Summer Vacation, er, Internship

    Updated: 2010-07-23 15:09:36
    So, uh, for the longest time, I’ve been trying to decide how to write about my cool summer job, especially without it sounding like a sales pitch. I still haven’t really figured out how to do that, but lots of other folks have been writing quite a bit lately, so I’m just going to point [...]

  • Some interesting links

    Updated: 2010-07-23 03:04:48
    In no particular order:  Neil Raden points out that business intelligence dashboards can be dangerously misleading. His reasoning (sound) is that whatever you measure is apt to be distorted by the fact people know they’re being measured. His solution (implied) is to hire a good-looking consultant like himself to do it right. I’ve had my issues [...]

  • Readability software makes reading web articles easier

    Updated: 2010-07-20 11:45:17
    Michael Sauers of the Travelin’ Librarian blog had a posting on using Readability software to make reading web articles easier: http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/ He also created an online Readability tutorial using ScreenToaster, an online screen recorder: http://tinyurl.com/2eqxbdx For more info on ScreenToaster: http://www.screentoaster.com/ Posted by Rich

  • New Spice: Study like a scholar, scholar video

    Updated: 2010-07-20 11:45:17
    I’m late in posting this, but there’s a funny BYU library video called New Spice: Study like a scholar, scholar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs Also there’s another funny library video called How to Print a Document at the COD Library While Avoiding the Zombie Horde: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w68doU1SxbY Posted by Rich

  • Patriot Ledger: Quincy Library Director Interview July 19

    Updated: 2010-07-20 11:45:16
    The July 19 Patriot Ledger had an interview of the Quincy Library Director Ann McLaughlin who is approaching her 40th anniversary at the library this coming January: QUINCY — Ann McLaughlin has been working in Quincy libraries since she graduated from college in 1971, spending the last 17 years as library director. As her 40th [...]

  • My view of intellectual property

    Updated: 2010-07-19 01:49:14
    The purpose of legal intellectual property protections, simply put, is to help make it a good decision to create something. The specific phrasing in the United States Constitution is To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; but [...]

  • Some Librarians Were Meant to be Seen

    Updated: 2010-07-14 08:41:36
    Who is that handsome man? How can I get a job like that? Chris Hardesty has done some pretty nifty things in his career, including this interview. A news librarian for many years, he presently wrangles electronic information for The Wall Street Journal. Go, Chris! (Those of you who know me well know I might [...]

  • KM and the Limits of Human Working Memory

    Updated: 2010-07-06 20:53:31
    : Sign In Home KM Topics KM Overview Case Studies About Us Search KM and the Limits of Human Working Memory By Carla O'Dell on July 6, 2010 Comments 3 Nicholas Carr's recent book The Shallows : What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains touches on an issue that APQC has been grappling with for several years--namely , that knowledge management is limited by the capacity of human attention , which many claim is being damaged by digital immersion , or excessive exposure to digital media . One thing that hasn't changed with the onset of the Internet is the capacity of our short-term memories . According to research conducted by George A . Miller in the 1950s an individual's short-term memory can hold only seven small chunks of information at a time , plus or minus two . If you use memory tricks

Current Feed Items | Previous Months Items

Jun 2010 | May 2010 | Apr 2010 | Mar 2010 | Feb 2010