Posted by John Patrick on Nov 30, 2003 in
Blogging 
November was a busy month speaking with the media. Marcia Stepanek at CIO Insight magazine and I spent two hours talking about blogging. The focus was on the CIO and the enterprise, although the implications of blogging are much more broad and deep than just the corporate world. The interview was published under the title of "Expert Voice: John Patrick on Weblogs -
Contagious Media". The CIO Insight introduction of the topic said, "Weblogs, or blogs, are, at their very least, Web pages for self-proclaimed pundits, and often are nerdy, inane and barely grammatical. But increasingly, blogs are showing up on the corporate intranet, and, when left alone by corporate censors, can energize collaboration and give new life to the concept of knowledge management". (read more)
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 29, 2003 in
Healthcare,
Public Policy 
There have been
many emails about the PepperBall, but perhaps the most emotional feedback has been about my short stories on healthcare.
The cry for more efficient, effective, and affordable healthcare is universal. One reader said,
"I was happy to see your take on healthcare in your recent blog. This is a field where
some good IT could solve redundancy quagmires, but one of the basic problems is privacy. I think people reject the idea of their healthcare info being in a database for fear unauthorized people would be able to get at it to find out what their ‘weaknesses’ are".
Of all the issues which will affect the future of the Internet, the safeguarding of our personal information when it travels on or over the Net is likely the most important because it is at the heart of Trust — and without Trust the Net will not be able to realize its full potential. This means that information about an individual needs to be handled in a way that is consistent with the privacy and security expectations of the individual — if not, there will be no trust. I am planning a series of stories about trust. There may be other stories along the way, but this is Part 1. (read more)
Tags: authentication, authorization, ca, certificate authority, digital id, encyption, integrity, key, non-repudiation, passphrase, privacy, security, smart card, trust, usb
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 27, 2003 in
Gadgets 
After so many emails about the PepperBall (see below), I decided to establish The Pepper Ball Log share some of the inquiries. There is also a new link to enable readers to be able to buy a PepperBall. Chef’n is a leading innovator in the kitchen housewares industry and it seems to be a company moving in fast forward with a passion for innovation. An inventive young man, David Holcomb, had an idea in the early 1980′s to replace plastic container from which you would shake dry flakes of garlic with the Garlic Machine. It also used to be that the only cracked pepper you saw was if someone dropped the shaker on the floor — until Mr. Holcomb invented the PepperBall.
Most people that visit patrickWeb are looking for stories about WiFi, blogging, or Internet technology, but the subject that results in the most emails is the PepperBall. I hope you enjoy the log that follows. Fortunately, I have been able to help all those who have written. (read more).
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 26, 2003 in
Conferences The Western CT Exchange is holding networking sessions which are designed to enable members and attendees to gain insight and share information with business professionals and executives from throughout the Western Conecticut region. Their next meeting will be December 4th at the Ridgefield Community Center. It will be a breakfast session from 7:45 – 9:45 am. I have been asked to give a keynote talk to kick off the session. Also speaking will be Kenn Devane, President of MineTech Data; Tim Cummins, Exec.Dir. of International Assoc. of Contract & Commercial Managers; Frank Ballatore, The New England Computer Group and; Bhavin Desai, Founder of Danbury-based AgileSolv. If you are interested, there is contact information at the Danbury News-Times Online.
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 23, 2003 in
Healthcare There has been a lot of feedback about the "Accident" story. It was all of the nature of "I can top that one!". Here is what one reader had to say…
"AMEN!!! Having just had to choose a new health plan and wade through the details of co-pays and deductibles, I have come to the conclusion that our health insurance system is fatally flawed (and rigged against the patient). I would love to see a calculation of what percentage of policy holders’ legitimate health costs are actually properly reimbursed. I for one only fill out the paperwork for a fraction of the expenses I should claim. And when I do, there is a 20-25% chance that they will be rejected, so that I have to call and complain, after which I get the money".
He went on to say, "The bottom line is Americans spend almost twice as much money on health care as other countries and yet people are getting fatter, more sedentary, and less and less healthy–and more and more of my friends are undergoing invasive medical procedures which turn out to have been unnecessary or, even worse, harmful".
Other
patrickWeb stories about healthcare
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 20, 2003 in
Healthcare 
In February 2003 I had an accident. I won’t bore you with the details — a freak fall that resulted in a concussion. It was quite an ordeal — but nothing compared to the associated paperwork. After arriving at the hospital via ambulance, the first encounter with the medical system was a person approaching my bed with a ThinkPad on a cart. I I was glad to see that it was a ThinkPad but a bit surprised at the priorities. I was bleading and suffering a concusion but the most important thing was to get my vital data (insurance data, not medical data) into electronic form. You would think that this near real-time capture of data would assure speedy processing of the charges and settlement by my HMO. I spent four hours in the emergency room but after more than nine months, the financial aspects of the incident are still not settled. (read more)
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 19, 2003 in
patrickWeb The last few days have been spent developing a new menu system for patrickWeb and trying to streamline the several thousand pages of content to make it easier for visitors to find things. I am making progress, but like many technical projects, it is sometimes one step forward and two steps backwards. I appreciate everyone’s patience as I slice and dice the web pages of the site and pull things together. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. I know my “reorgainzation” of the content has broken many links and I am furiously repairing them as fast as I can.
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 16, 2003 in
Internet Technology 
Network World asked me to write an 850 word summary of my view about the future of the Internet. The story appears in the November 10 issue of the magazine and also online at NetworkWorldFusion. They named the story "The Ultimate Internet". I don’t know if "ultimate" is the right term, and 850 words isn’t much space to describe something as broad and deep as the evolution of the Internet, but I did my best. There were some other things in the news and a few thoughts I wanted to share. (read more)
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 14, 2003 in
Travels 
According to the Magellan
SporTrakColor handheld GPS, Singapore is
a bit south and east from Kuala Lumpur. The latitude is 1 degree 17.582
minutes North and the longitude is 103 degrees 51.202 minutes East. That
makes it 9,485 miles from home.
Singapore is a tiny island compared to the
size of Malaysia but the strategic position it has from a shipping perspective
has enabled it to grow and prosper for many years. My photographic skills
did not do justice to the splendor of the city. The first morning was spent
discussing Internet technology with some IT staff and management at Singapore
Airlines and this was followed by an interesting lunch with their
CIO to discuss issues facing the airline industry. In the afternoon I was
privileged to meet with executives at SingTel
Communications to discuss WiFi and other
issues. It was then a special treat to present to the Singapore
Computer Society. The next morning I had a little bit of time to myself
and so I decided to head for Sim Lim. (read
more)
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 12, 2003 in
Internet Technology,
Travels 
I
was very fortunate to be in Malaysia this week. It was a long trip –
28 hours to get from my house to the J.W. Marriott in downtown Kuala Lumpur
– but one which enabled me to make many new acquaintances and to learn much
more about Asia. According to the Magellan
SporTrakColor handheld GPS,
the latitude is 2 degrees 50.526 minutes North and the longitude is 101
degrees 42.399 minutes East. That makes it 9,368 miles from home. The first
leg of the flight went from JFK in New York to Frankfurt, Germany. It took
about 6.5 hours in the air. The flight got in at 4:30 am EST which was then
10:30 am in Germany. After an hour or so layover for fuel and crew change
we re-boarded the same Boeing 747 to head for Singapore.
The path was a southeastern
arc heading across eastern Europe over Prague, various parts of what used
to be the USSR and
then across India, just below Delhi, and across the Bay of Bengal toward
Bangkok, Thailand. The flight continued over Phuket, west of Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam, over much of Malaysia and into Singapore. (read
more)
