Thoughts about Software, IT and Bits of Semantics
{ Monthly Archives }
I finished reading Peter Denning project on the Great Principles of Computing in an ACM Ubiquity interview. The site about the Great Principles of Computing is really mind-blowing. I think it is definitely a compulsory reading for everybody studying Computer Science, but also it is insightful for those who are coming from different fields and never really understood what was unique about Computer Science…or, what is Computer Science.
In this study, from HBS, it is shown how adoption lags are large. Actually, these are the main four conclusions from the study (yes, I am too lazy to read it all):
That sounds interesting, particularly for us who ponder how fast we adopt technologies. In my particular case, I am kind a late-adopter for many things (an example, I was trying to install the Flock browser since three months but nothing happened).
How about you?
No big surprise, as this article in the Economist points out what I already saw this summer: South Korean work like crazy.
“SOUTH KOREAN workers toil for over 45 hours every week on average, nearly seven hours longer than workers in any other OECD country. Americans put in 15% more hours on average than workers in the western (richer) bit of the European Union. Poorer Eastern Europeans work considerably longer. Flexible arrangements for part-time workers, generous welfare systems and a limit on the working week all contribute to western Europe’s seeming indolence. But where more people work part-time the average working week is likely to be shorter. The Netherlands, where 45% of workers are part-timers, the highest proportion in any OECD country, has the shortest working week”.
Yet again, no surprises EU works 15% less than the US, that is again what I can imagine. But the Korean case is quite clear, when asked about why they work so much there was only one answer: “We have no natural resources, we have to work”.
Spain has one: the sun.
This is a good comprehensive list of ultraportables. My favourite is definitely the Asus Eee PC 701, just because I have an Asus myself and I think the brand is really good; it provides really astounding with equipment with very good prices. These Taiwanese guys are really good.
So, to follow on, the ultraportable has these features:
The Asus Eee PC builds on the concepts originated by the OLPC XO Laptop and Intel’s Classmate PC. But unlike those low cost ultraportables, Asus has marketed the Eee PC to consumers since day one. And the success of the original Eee PC 701 has sparked a whole new trend in mobile computing.
I might get one this summer in the US, just to try…
After the conference, I gave a tutorial for three days (till today, Friday) when the Feria de San Marcos, a big event, “the biggest Mexican cantine” in the world, kicks off. It was about Advanced Semantics but fundamentally, it was based on Web 2.0 techniques. Most of studetns were related to the ITA so it was good fun.
I gave a conference on “Meta Web 3.0: Los tiempos están cambiando” at the Instituto Tecnológico de Aguascalientes. It was a tremendous success (too bad on me to say it). We had around 300 people in the room, moving, vibrating and finally, asking about the contents of the conference.
It was great to say how there were able from some other Universities in Mexico such as the Instituto Tecnológico de Zacatecas, Universidad Politécnica de Aguascalientes, Instituto Tecnológico de Lagos de Moreno and Universidad Cuauhtemoc (and some others that I did not even know, I feel ashamed for that, apologies upfront).
The really important thing of the conference is the fact that it generated debate. That was the intention and that was the idea, so thanks to everybody!!
“With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine”. That is how the super-fast Internet of the next generation is entitled to behave.
When I was in Lao last summer, I was fully able to confirm a suspiction I had all over those years: there is no single place without the Internet. Even in the most coined and isolate placed in the world, such as Luang Prabang, in the rivershore of the Mekong river, the Yellow River, there were plenty of Internet cafes and a whole bunch of youngsters travelling Asia using the very Net.
In Slashdot, they talk about the Dead Sea Effect, which is the fact that good experts evaporate in the IT shops whereas the bad ones definitely stay. Well, definitely, that is true and one of the most important reasons is the fact that IT experts are seen on a “if it works, don´t touch” basis and the really good ones want to move on, do real stuff and look for different fields.
What I saw when working with companies such as SAP or IBM in research projects (specially EU ones) was a two pronged approach. Some people thought they were doing research and innovation, hence those companies did not provide enough support so they went to more ultra-research oriented organizatios. Some other people simply decided academia was the way to go and they left. That is one reason for which I think academia is full of good IT people and not the opposite, as many say.
Ok, it´s time to rock again!! Proposals successfully submitted, I get my show back to the road. I received an invitation to give a talk and a tutorial about Advanced Semantic Technologies at the Instituto Tecnológico de Aguascalientes in Mexico.
I am very happy about this opportunity. I belive the ITA is a great place to share and meet new people, probably thinking of doing some research in the field, so I am really excited. It will be quite a lot of work, though, but I am sure it will be a great experience.
I will keep on the blogging stuff from there, so… see you within fourteen flight hours!!
Currently, I am quite busy with proposal writing (actually that is the reason for which I was working both this and last weekend) since proposal deadline for EU FP7 proposals is April, 8th and for Spanish national projects is April, 10th, which is really bad news if you want to submit A LOT and you intend to do soon some real work and real stuff.
See you then…