Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Beware of the Cloud - the last mile is fragile

Here I sit in the dark. Hydro Ontario says 1,700 of us are effected. It's my first brownout. 59 volts at the outlet.

Other than a few brownish lights, I shut off the breakers for the furnace, water pump, fridge, freezer, tv, satellite.

I tried phoning hydro but the cordless phones are dead. Used the cell, Had major static, had to talk to a person. The automated machine does voice and dtmf. it could not take my phone number.

Internet is down. House is up on a hill, from my upstairs, multi-windowed office I can see nothing. Dark. Nothing. Radio is on. CBC Stereo 1, stuart mclean vinyl café coming from picton ontario. Radio is a good one, goes 23 hours on a charge.

Battery backup for server and network has shutdown. Laptops haave been shutdown to save battery for the morning should we be down still.

Last time was the ice storm. We had no power for 11 days. Between then and now was the eastern north america grid shutdown one summer.

We have a wood stove. I need to buy a bigger generator or get the industrial one I got from salvage working.

I am posting this using a Windows Mobile Plam Treo Pro and a Celio RedFly. Using IE and blogger directly and it works okay. I like the autosave. Using EVDO and it's okay. I am connected.

I have a cool radio show playing to keep me company. Facebook works. Slow but works. Email is totally alive and well. Push email to the Treo from the corporate exchange server, personal email from google gmail.

How would you survive for the next 11 days with no hydro ? No internet unless it's provided by a provider with generators.

Do you work from home ? Can you work still ?

Back to basic's. Food, heat, water. What's your plan for survival.


I'm thinking through my plan as I sit up high in my lookout wondering if I'll see the lights come back on in my little part of the world.

The cloud will be there when I get back to it.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Long Live the CloudFrame

I was asked:

In what sense is a Private Cloud a Cloud? I can understand that it can be cloud-like in the sense that virtualization is employed more consistently and I can see that IT might be able to deliver some degree of elasticity and associated charging models. But at the end of the day all the kit still belongs to the enterprise, so you haven't really moved from a CapEx to OpEx model.

Also what I understand as one of the drivers for cloud (and traditional outsourcing too) is that a bank (hospital, government, retailer , whatever) is not in the business of running data centres. Building an internal "cloud" only makes them more tied to their data centre.

Doesn't it?



I answered:

And who was it that said that a cloud must be OpEx ?

and who said that only an "external" like a google or amazon or MS can provide the floor,heat and power for the cloud hardware ?


I would contend that the two assertions above are blatantly false.

And are made by those with something to gain.


The mainframe was the original cloud. Some organizations just want their lost operating system back. It used to be one computing infrastructure , one operating system. Now we have many pieces of infrastructure each with piece of operating systems. Cloud has one operating system. That's all that is wanted, simplicity and service.



Long live the cloudframe.







Tuesday, October 13, 2009

There must be an analogy here



















There must be a clever analogy here.

The chassis that lives forever ...
The best never dies but ceases to serve a purpose ...
Not all metal rusts ...
After all of the cuts, only a shell remains ...
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Monday, October 12, 2009

These are the one's the nice lady said I could take






I was told that I could not bring my SLR to the game.











I was told that my point and shoot was okay.



So the Nikon went into the lock box in the jeep and along came the baby canon.













































































































































Saturday, October 10, 2009

The nice lady said your camera is too good - please leave it outside or check it

I guess the NHL has too many people taking pictures and beng fans.

Point and shoots are fine.

Just leave your SLR behind.

Sent from my Treo™ Pro smartphone.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

The GoogleWave is Krazy





















This guy Kol knows how to get comments.

From 3,000 subscribers he has manufactured 270,000 comments.


This time he asked those of us that Google has deemed upworthy of an invite to try out GoogleWave if we'd like an invite.

So far, 450 said yes.
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The Achilles Heel of SmugMug

Me to SmugMug:

I can't get HD video files over 200mb uploaded to my SmugMug Professional site. I get timeouts. I have tried all the available uploaders and the third-party ones too. Uploads over 200mb fail.

SmugMug to Me:

That's a problem with your Internet Service. Ours is working fine. Sorry.

Me to SmugMug:

You need to solve the problem. Not everyone has a rock solid Internet Service or Internet Service Provider. To make HD video work on the net, or any large file based product, a technology solution is required. Other companies have recognized this and offered a technology solution.

SmugMug to Me:

Sorry we can't help. Try smaller files or a better internet service.



After the dialogue, I thought the SmugMug needs to buy DropBox ( getdropbox.com ) because they get it.

ps. SmugMug, I have over 30gb uploaded to your servers. I think my internet service is pretty much okay. It's just that 500mb HD video files are a different game than 8mb image files. You will fail in the HD video game if you don't recognize the differences between it and the image game. It's too bad you don't get it because I am cheering for you.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Audio and Video supplementing and enhancing education

This is more than a trend.

I see audio and video enhancing the education system.

Imagine being able to go back years later into your education library and review a lecture.

I think there are issues but the long term benefits make the journey to get there worthwhile.

my 2 cents.

in reference to: MediaShift . Is University of Missouri's iPod Touch 'Requirement' Fair? | PBS (view on Google Sidewiki)

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Tying the debt owed to employees to Nortel's patent pool makes sense

Too bad it can't be done in the case of Nortel but maybe the concept of a lien being able to be placed on patents is a concept of today's world that needs to be put in place.

in reference to: Virtual Nonsense » Lien on Nortel Patents (view on Google Sidewiki)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

I am getting a new toy in a most unique way

A buddy of mine dropped by asking if he could buy my old turntable for a local radio station.

It is one of these. I have a limited connection to it. I lusted after one while in high school for my DJ business. I never got one, they were too much $$ back then. I did snag one at a yard sale about 5 or more years ago.

I paid $5.00 for it.

I've used it, maybe four times. It works well but other than for nostalgia, i need it not.

I also have a quite good dual that was my brothers.

So, $300.00 was the offer and $300.00 is what i accepted.

Besides bragging rights for one of the best yard sale electronics finds, I can now bring home anything without getting the 'look'.

So i sell this,



























and buy this:


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Friday, September 18, 2009

When old school becomes new school


































I managed to shoe horn windows 7 onto a Compaq TC1000 tablet pc circa 2002.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_TC1000


http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=hp+tc1000&rls=com.microsoft:en-ca:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7DBCA&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=1496245053404795104&ei=BaKzSsixMpHplAe5gszzDg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=4#ps-sellers


It runs, very slowly by modern hardware standards but not bad compared to how it rans when new with XP Tablet edition.

There is one hardware problem that is a show stopper. The digitizer for the tablet doesn't work. HP drivers for XP don't work. I found a Gateway driver than installs and while windows is happy, they digitizer/pen is useless.

So I fresh installed with back to XP Tablet 2005. It is my retro computer now. I call it my G-Touch. It runs ie well and supports my igoogle page nciely. Email, calendar, rss, piscasa.

and it has a feature not found today.

a built-in compact flash card reader

retro supports my D-SLR

all the new stuff requires me to carry a usb cable or reader & cable


when i go to starbucks, all the cool kids with have either netbooks or widescreen lugabouts


but i know i will be on to something with this retro computing when my teenager asks me if she can take it to school

btw, it scored a 1.0 rating but in fact it was so slow that windows could not rate it.








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To Tweet the incredible tweet

Like i get twitter but i don't get it.

I miss the part where a guy
with nothing to say and
with nothing said
gets over 15,000 people
to follow
what he doesn't say
and hasn't said.

Maybe, they know
that one day
sometime soon
he will
tweet the incredible tweet.


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Thursday, September 10, 2009

I want to be a rockstar


















Nickelback nails it. We all just wanna be big rockstars.

I decided tonight to browse through the world of http://www.luxist.com
and dream a little dream for me.

I'll share what catches my eye.

Take a gander over at http://facebook.com/neternity with the rest
of my facebooky stuff.

Or just gander at my shared items page at http://www.google.com/reader/shared/neternity.

Off to dream .....
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Sunday, August 30, 2009

Windows 7 trip report

Well, I do think it is faster than Vista.

Best knews is that Windows XP runs well under Microsoft Virtual PC x64. I can read my work email via our Juniper VPN and Office 2003. A bit of old school mixed with this bleeding edge stuff.

Stuff like picasa, friendfeed, twitter, facebook, gmail, gall (mail, docs, calendar, rss reader, voice).

And i have decided i like the task bar.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

i can't see a difference, can you see a difference

I was getting a bunches of blue screen's of death on my personal HP TC2114ca which is a neat little table pc, amd64 with a nvidia graphics. I got it cheap after HP refreshed the model with amd64 and ati graphics ( a logical step once amd bought ati).

It came with 4gb ram and 64bit vista.

So i decided to fix it by putting windows 7 on it.

Did the painless install/upgrade and it just worked. My touch screen works but my fingerprint reader and fancy hp keys don't. HP says wait for october 22nd.

But it works.

It seems faster but the vista version wasn't slow.

I really can't see much of a difference other than changes to where stuff is in menu's and control panel.

It does seem to fix the big problem with vista - perception.

Now granted this is a big hardware system so i can't comment on performance of windows 7 vs vista on wee netbooks or older less performant hardware but then why bother upgrading any of them. Just use the OS them came with. Networks are now under $300 so spending over $100 for a windows 7 upgrade seems a waste of money.

Just buy a new OS when you by a new system. Spend your money on a new mouse or some cool software or a higher speed internet connection or an big external hard drive. The last two will get you more than an OS upgrade will.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Friday, July 24, 2009

On Scatter Architecture, an Enterprise Architecture Approach beyond SOA and Cloud

I see a light at the end of the tunnel.


It's a bright one and could well stay lit for long enough that we'll make it to it and bask in it's brilliance.

This light I call Scatter Architecture.

Let me explain; a Scatter Architecture makes use of multiple sources of processing, storage and functionality based on what makes the most sense for the business need at hand.

The traditional solid Enterprise Architecture is now loosly coupled using both a Services and Modular approach to applications. Processing and storage is freed from the confines of the traditional data center. Cloud computing is embraced with internal, external and public clouds.

Everything we do well now as SOA and all that is legacy is embraced and leveraged.

The Scatter Architecture is one where many choices are made, some in design and some via real-time goverance and directional controls. It follows much of the same constructs of consumer shopping.

In comsumer shopping, choices are made based on value, availability, trust, relationships and other such influences and 'rules'. There are a few wrong choices but the smart consumer ends up with the better result by shopping around. The clothing retailer may not have the right hat. The camping goods retailer might.

Service providers need to compete and since the consumer makes the ultimate decision and has the ability to shop where they want, the consumer has the final say.

Such in a Scatter Architecture, architecture principles of flexibility, choice, multi-sourcing and openness drive decisions and the outcome.

Enabling this is the ability of a business's supporting functions and applications to be scattered and an architecture that supports integrated scattering. Cloud computing is breaking up the enterprise architecture to support scattering of processing, storage and functionality. SOA and modular applications are scatterable.

As both mature, so will the ability to Scatter. Scatter Architecture should be the end goal, it way outwieghs cost savings and low level ROI. The larger ROI will come at the enterprise level when the control of consumption of functions and the supporting infrastucture are placed in the hands of the consumer.

There, in a too short and slightly convulted way, I've explained and staked my claim to the concept of the Scatter Architecture.

For once and for a neternity. It's on my blog.

I sort of got lost

I have found myself content to leave dribs of my stream of conciousness all over the Internet but not here.

I like the share feature on Google Reader. You'll find my shares of rss feed items on facebook and linkedin. They'll let you know what I am finding of interest.

Sites I find that I want to save and share show up there too.

I am finding Facebook and LinkedIn to be a better blog than my blog.

I'm not sure I like that.

And here I sit in the rain, camping, with EVDO internet posting my thoughts.

Finally a bit of quiet, time to clear the brain.

And this was one of those thoughts that needed to be stated, a time in the neternity that needed stating.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Thinking about my Web Ecosystem

Thinking about he who feeds who, what to be fed where, shared where, stored where

Stored Forever

Stred for a network eternity,

a neternity

Sent from my Treo™ Pro smartphone.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

My baby came home - book not finished yet



Remember the story of many moons ago.

Boy meets Jeep.

Boy marries Jeep.

9 years later, boy realizes he married wrong Jeep sister.

Family of Jeep takes back sister, promises to make it right.

Jeep comes home today.

Still wrong Jeep.

Still no fixed marriage license.

But now it is an Insurance Company's delay (husband of other sister Jeep).

Stereo works.



June 3rd, 2009

"It is supposed to be back to me now.It is not.Story is that it is being worked on. It needs to be safety checked in order to correct the wrong licensing that the dealer did back in 2000. The dealer is doing it which is right. But they are taking their time.I want it back.Now."


May 26th, 2009

"A snafu when I bought it put the wrong plates on two side by side Jeeps. I have had the wrong Jeep for 9 years. The VIN on the Jeep does not match my registration and all of my paperwork.
The dealer picked it up today to get a safety check done on iit in order to transfer the physical vehicle into my name. Then I will be able to get current plates and drive it on the road. So I hope."

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