IBM Happenings: July 2010

After thirty-eight years at IBM, it was hard to cut the cord. One of my self-appointed duties as an e-tiree has been to post news clips of things going on at the company. Fortunately, there is a lot going on there! I post what I call “IBM Happenings” more or less once a month. Not sure if I will do this forever but people seem to find it useful. Click a thumbs up or down after the postings to let me know what you think. There is an archive of the news clips since I began posting back in 2004.

IBM to acquire BigFix
The acquisition accelerates IBM’s efforts to help organizations secure
the enterprise by managing and automating security and compliance
updates on thousands of computers globally.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32026.wss

IBM unveils Global Commuter Pain study
IBM surveyed 8,192 motorists in 20 cities on six continents, the majority
of whom say that traffic has gotten worse in the past three years.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32017.wss

Roche, IBM to develop DNA sequencing technology
Roche and IBM announced an agreement to develop a nanopore-based
technology that will directly read and sequence human DNA quickly and efficiently.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32037.wss

Comepay selects IBM System z10
Comepay, a leading provider of self-service payment kiosks in Russia,
has selected an IBM System z10 mainframe to run its core business
operations.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32004.wss

IBM launches Berlitz’s Language Services intranet
IBM announced Berlitz International Inc.’s ambitious project to use
social software and social analytics to improve the career development
and satisfaction of its employees.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32011.wss

IBM opens cloud center in Ehningen, Germany
The new facility will host a range of technology platforms and optimized
service delivery processes, enabling its clients to harness the potential
offered by cloud computing.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32135.wss

IBM bolsters research to improve healthcare
IBM will enlist some of the company’s leading scientists and technologists
to help medical practitioners and insurance companies provide high-quality,
evidence-based care to patients.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32125.wss

IBM introduces new security appliance
The new IBM Security Network Intrusion Prevention System helps
organizations take a more holistic approach to security, eliminating
the need for multiple point solutions.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32134.wss

IBM, People’s Hospital build patient-centric care system
IBM and Peking University People’s Hospital have built an
evidence-based patient centric care system to enable resource
sharing among medical services providers for improved patient care.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32126.wss

IBM announces open beta program for AIX 7
AIX 7 builds on the capabilities of previous releases of AIX and can fully
exploit the performance and energy management capabilities of the
new POWER7 servers.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32121.wss

IBM reports 2010 second-quarter results
IBM announced second-quarter 2010 diluted earnings of $2.61
per share compared with diluted earnings of $2.32 per share in the
second quarter of 2009, an increase of 13 percent.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32144.wss

IBM unveils zEnterprise System
IBM announced the zEnterprise mainframe server and a new systems
design that allows workloads on mainframe, POWER7 and System x
servers to share resources and be managed as a single, virtualized
system.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32166.wss

Memphis reduces crime with IBM predictive analytics
The Memphis Police Department has enhanced its crime fighting
techniques with IBM predictive analytics software and reduced serious
crime by more than 30 percent.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32169.wss

Sun World transforms produce business with IBM
Sun World International LLC is harnessing IBM analytics technology
to improve crop yields, reduce waste and expand its customer base,
while providing more cost effective and energy-efficient harvesting
practices.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32159.wss

IBM acquires storage company Storwize
Storwize provides real-time data compression technology to help
clients reduce physical storage requirements by up to 80%.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32219.wss

We discussed the acquisition during a teleconference on July 29.
Details are available at:
http://www.ibm.com/itanalyst/teleconferences

IBM opens cloud computing center in Poland
IBM Poland and the Wroclaw University of Technology announced
an agreement to establish the first university cloud computing center
in Poland.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32226.wss

IBM, Carnegie Mellon to create Smarter Infrastructure Lab
The IBM Smarter Infrastructure Lab at Carnegie Mellon University
will develop technologies that are consistent with IBM’s Smarter
Planet initiative.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32225.wss

IBM, Tridium to develop energy-efficient building systems
IBM plans to work with Tridium, Inc. to develop new technology
and solutions that will allow companies to maximize efficiency
of their new and existing buildings and facilities.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32218.wss

IBM, UPMC to make ‘smart’ patient rooms
IBM and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are teaming
up to bring “smarter” hospital rooms to patients nationwide.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32217.wss

Complete index of IBM Happenings for 2004-2010

Tags: IBM, IBM Research, john patrick

Amazon: Smaller, Faster, Cheaper

Smaller, Faster, Cheaper. That has been the mantra of the computer business for decades and it continues on. As predicted here, Amazon has announced a smaller, faster, cheaper Kindle 3 and it also turns out to be clearer. The new no glare screen has increased gray-scale contrast and it loves the summer sun. The battery life is one month and the slightly smaller size and 8.7 once weight means you can hold it in your hand for a long time with no fatigue. At a price of $139 this new Kindle will likely become something that every member of the family will have. I think Jeff Bezos has the right idea with his “single purpose” device combined with a strategy to make all Amazon books readable on all the devices no matter who makes them. I love my iPad but when it comes to reading  books the Kindle is hands down better and with the Kindle 3 that advantage will be multiplied.

The new Kindle comes in two flavors: one with WiFi for $139 and one with WiFi and 3G for $189. For most of us the WiFi model is more than adequate. If you are going on a trip you can download your favorite newspaper plus a book or two or more using your home WiFi and you are set. You don’t really need 3G for other applications because the Kindle doesn’t have other applications! That is what your iPad is for.

I have a small investment in Amazon and plan to hold on to it for a long time. I think their visiion and execution are outstanding as I have written many times here in the blog. The Wall Street pundits are not as bullish, however. In fact the latest stories on the company’s performance talk about “costs soar”, “investors spooked”, “expectations not met” and other negative phrases. Amazon was criticized for spending to expand it’s infrastructure. Apparently Wall Street would prefer that the company wait until they start dissatisfying customers and then apply bandaids. Amazon is adding 13 fulfillment centers this year and has hired an additional 2,200 employees over the last quarter.  As an investor I like the long term view that Jeff Bezos has taken consistently from day one. He ignores the pundits and listens to the customers.

What was the bad news that caused the stock to take a big hit this week? Amazon’s earnings rose 45% on a 41% increase in sales. Sales of electronics and other general goods rose 69% to $3.49 billion. Operating expenses such as marketing and distribution costs jumped 40%, almost as much as sales. They didn’t rise — they jumped. Rising less than sales was a very good thing when I was a CFO.  Another “negative” is that Amazon’s sales of traditional media, such as books and DVDs, continued to decelerate. That will be true for everyone as we all know. That is why Amazon is pushing the Kindle.

In spite of the “negatives” Amazon’s profit for the quarter grew from $142 million to $207 million while revenue rose from $4.65 billion to $6.57 billion. But analysts were critical that return on invested capital fell to 34% from 42% a year ago. Most companies would die to get 10%. The bottom line is that expectations get out of hand. An analyst puts a number in a spreadsheet for what they expect revenue or profit to be and those numbers become set in concrete. Somehow the analysts know more than Jeff Bezos about what his numbers should be. In the long run things adjust properly but in a quarter by quarter game the strategy and reality of performance are less important than what the expectations were.

Meanwhile Amazon reported it sold more e-books than paper books over the past three months. The company also disclosed an agreement with literary agent Andrew Wylie giving it exclusive rights to sell digital editions of certain older titles by authors such as Philip Roth and John Updike. The deal bypasses publishers completely. This is profound. The publishers are furious about the deal but for the rest of us it means fairly priced access to a large number of classics. The Kindle library now exceeds 600,000 and is growing rapidly. That should take care of a lot of summers.

Tags: amazon, author, ipad, Kindle, publisher, wylie

e-tirement

I was browsing through Pulse on the iPad reading the news and happened upon my friend Irving’s post “Reflections on the “Post-Retirement” Phase of My Life“. It reminded me that I have been meaning to write something similar about my “e-tirement”, a term coined by Irving back in 2001 when I e-tired. Irving wrote his reflection after three years and I have yet to write mine after nearly nine years. This is the problem with “retiring” — there just isn’t enough time to do all you want to do. It reminds me of a reflection by a retired friend who said that he needed to go back to work so that he would have more spare time. This post is intended to share what e-tirement is all about for this one fellow traveler.

For many people, the shift from full-time employment is all about golf. Nothing wrong with that and I can see how happy it makes many people. I played golf once. It was in August 1976 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. That was enough — the day confirmed that golf was not for me and I still do not see it in my future. Like Irving, I have found the shift to be from one primary focus area at one company to multiple focus areas with multiple organizations. As I say on my homepage, I am fortunate to have quite a few affiliations and I get to work with people from whom I am constantly learning.

Serving on boards, both corporate and non-profit, is a very rewarding experience. Not financially — but in the sense that you are able to help with a new idea, or to share an experience that can be helpful. In the old days being a board member meant going to a quarterly meeting and hearing from management and then voting to approve their actions. Governance has evolved significantly and in a positive direction. Directors are expected to read board materials and be prepared for discussion at meetings and to speak out when there is something they don’t understand or agree with. Directors also participate in committees of the board and that is often where more significant ground work takes place. Serving as a member of the planning and technology committees at the regional hospital enables me to be involved at the forefront of the rapid changes in healthcare. Serving on two compensation committees and as chair of the audit committee at two for profit companies is “continuing education”. All things considered I find that board service is a way to remain challenged while at the same time giving back some of the experience gained from nearly four decades at IBM.

When asked for “occupation” on various forms I usually say “consultant” but I don’t make visits and write reports in the classical consulting model. I do maintain a relationship with IBM and act somewhat as an ombudsman at various technology conferences. This enables me to provide an “outsider” perspective to the company from time to time. Not sure if I am an inside outsider or an outside insider. Conferences provide an important dimension of e-tirement for me. Speaking at them or just attending them is a way to stay involved in the industry. There are a lot of good conferences where technologists, investors, business leaders and media come together to network, share ideas, and explore the business impacts of key innovations. Catching up with former colleagues and making new friends is also a highlight. The social networks and many great blogs provide a huge amount of information but there is no substitute for getting together in person and chatting in the hallways during coffee and meal breaks a few times a year. The speaker circuit at company and industry trade group sponsored conferences has suffered an understandable slow down with the economy but hopefully will bounce back during the second half of this year. It has been a privilege to be on the roster of the Washington Speakers Bureau since 2002. Speaking at various not or profit events is also rewarding. Public speaking has been a key part of e-tirement.

And then there are hobbies — so many hobbies, so little time. The patrickWeb blog has many stories about the motorcyling adventures, conducting Beethoven and Mozart, personal computing, gadgets, hiking, geocaching, home automation, reading, and travels. The one hobby that dropped off the list is running — too many marathons and decades of pounding the pavement wore out my knee. Technology came to the rescue and the new oxinium knee has allowed for a full rehabilitation. Although running is not possible, walking and the elliptical cross trainer have enabled me to reach an average 13,000 steps per day — just short of 5 million steps since the new knee was implanted 21 months ago.

All of the hobbies are shared in the blog and, of course, blogging itself is an important hobby. As Irving pointed out, blogging is a way to chronicle one’s activities and connect with many people who have common interests. There are roughly 1,000 stories in patrickWeb dating back to 1998. Someday my grandchildren will find the blog of interest. How about if the Romans and Greeks had been bloggers? What an impact blogging will have hundreds of years from now as researchers try to understand what pepole were thinking and doing way back at the turn of this millenium. I marvel at the research done by Edward Gibbon as he wrote the six volmues of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. As I read his autobiography and also that of Benjamin Franklin recently I thought how awesome it would be if they had been able to blog their thoughts.

I don’t say much in the blog about my wife, our four children, or the three grandchildren (about to be four). I leave it to them to decide what and how they want to share. I will just say that I am proud of them all. Thanks to Irving for inspiring me to write something about e-tirement. Now when I mention the word in future posts I will have a permalink to point to!

Tags: blogging, board, board of directors, board of trustees, Gadgets, governance, hobbies, hospital, IBM, irving wladawsky, irving wladawsky-berger, public speaking, retire, retirement, running, speaking, washington speakers bureau

Kindle Sales Defy iPad

PC World Magazine says “Amazon Kindle Sales Defy IPad by Rising Each Month in Q2“.  This does not come as a surprise for a number of reasons. One is that the Kindle is a great product that is highly intuitive and easy to use. People get addicted to it and they tell their friends and family about it. I have been wanting to read Michael Lewis’s The Big Short but it was not available until recently on the Kindle. I waited. Great book, by the way. I know people who told me a few years ago that they had no interest in the Kindle but now are addicted. It was a popular gift item last holiday season and with the price reduced (again) it has become attractive to a much larger audience. Another factor is that the iPad is not the Kindle killer that some had thought. As described here a number of times, the iPad is great but not for for long periods and not for reading outdoors. Summer reading is the sweet spot for the Kindle.

Now we have the new Kindle DX.  The “old” Kindle DX was already quite nice.  We have been using it as an “electronic flight bag” for roughly 15,000 approach and airport charts. The Kindle reduces clutter in the cockpit but the iPad does a better job as an EFB since it has numerous aviation applications that enable pilots to calculate weight and balance, get the latest weather, and file flight plans directly with the FAA. Now that we have the iPad the DX can revert to the original reason we got it — reading newspapers and magazines. The DX is great for books too but the smaller Kindle is more comfortable to hold. The sweetspot for the DX is magazines, newspapers, and documents. Putting the DX on a stand and flipping through the Sunday paper is a treat. And now with the new DX it will be even better.

The new 9.7″ diagonal, high contrast e-ink screen has 50% better contrast than it’s predecessor. The Kindle DX display looks and reads like real paper, with no glare. With the free 3G wireless (no monthly payments and no contract) and the lower price, the DX is going to be a good choice for many people. Battery life is great too — read for up to 1 week on a single charge; turn wireless off and read for up to two weeks. The built-in PDF Reader has enhanced zoom capability to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics. For professionals who have thousands of documents it will be a natural.

There will be a lot of competition for tablets and e-readers but from what I have seen so far the iPad and the Kindle, and the Kindle DX are the best. I love my iPad but for reading books the Kindle is better. I especially like being able to go back and forth between the iPhone 4, the Kindle, the Kindle DX, and the Kindle e-reader on the iPad and always have the bookmark synced to where I last was reading. As for newspapers and magazines the next move needs to be from the publishers who seem frozen with indecision. They want to charge a lot of money for their content but most of us don’t want to pay. Why pay for a New York Times app on the iPad when you can read the New York Times blogs on Pulse for free? As for magazines there is great potential for electronic versions but I don’t think people will pay the $4.99 for each new issue that Time and Wired are charging. I expect a lot of news about the news in the months ahead.

Tags: approach plates, Aviation, documents, dx, e-book, e-ink, e-reader, efb, flight charts, ipad, Kindle, kindle dx, magazines, New York Times, newspapers, pdf, time magazine, wired

IBM Happenings: May – June 2010

After thirty-eight years at IBM, it was hard to cut the cord. One of my self-appointed duties as an e-tiree has been to post news clips of things going on at the company. Fortunately, there is a lot going on there! I post what I call “IBM Happenings” more or less once a month. Not sure if I will do this forever but people seem to find it useful. Click a thumbs up or down after the postings to let me know what you think. There is an archive of the news clips since I began posting back in 2004.

IBM helps clients simplify their IT
IBM announced new products and services designed to simplify the way that clients manage their IT environments by delivering specialized capabilities associated with cloud, integration and scalability.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/30799.wss

IBM research effort examines human health
IBM launched a multi-year research effort to enable individuals, governments and businesses to better understand which actions to take to improve human health.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/30969.wss

IBM, TTI collaborate on intelligent transportation
IBM and Texas Transportation Institute have agreed to collaborate on research and development of intelligent transportation projects in Texas and beyond.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/30809.wss

New software personalizes customer relationship strategies
The new software enables users to analyze information from social media sources and then merge that with vast internal data for faster insight and predictive intelligence.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31472.wss

IBM opens cloud laboratory in Singapore
IBM announced the opening of a cloud computing laboratory in Singapore to help businesses and government design, adopt and reap benefits of cloud technologies.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/30803.wss

IBM releases 2010 Global CEO Study
The survey of more than 1,500 CEOs worldwide finds that creativity – more than discipline, integrity or even vision —  is needed to successfully navigate an increasing complex world.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31670.wss

IBM moves predictive analytics into new era
IBM SPSS Decision Management software places the powerof predictive analytics directly into the hands of business users for faster, more insightful decision making.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31689.wss

IBM announces new x86 systems
The new x86 systems leverage IBM software and hardware to deliver optimized performance and speed rollouts of high-performance clusters.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31685.wss

IBM announces new PartnerWorld program benefits
IBM announced new capabilities to help IBM Business Partners deepen their skills to deliver high-value solutions for clients, while creating opportunities for growth.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31696.wss

IBM software, services help clients take advantage of data
IBM announced new software and services designed to help organizations take advantage of the growing and diverse forms of data and content.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31687.wss

IBM, Hildebrand to bring smart metering to homes across Britain
IBM is teaming with energy consultant Hildebrand to help consumers make more informed decisions about their energy consumption with IBM data management software.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31690.wss

IBM to acquire Coremetrics
Coremetrics will expand IBM’s business analytics capabilities by enabling organizations to use a cloud-based delivery model to gain real-time insight into consumer interactions.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31907.wss

IBM releases Global Student Study
The study, “Inheriting a Complex World: Future Leaders Envision Sharing the Planet,” reflects the consolidated view of more than 3,600 students in more than 40 countries.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31937.wss

IBM announces offerings for the mobile business market
IBM unveiled a range of new software, services and research offerings designed to bring a new level of intelligence to the fast-growing mobile enterprise market.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31917.wss

IBM opens software lab in Massachusetts
The IBM Mass Lab is creating software that manages some of the world’s most complex process and infrastructure problems such as modernizing and automating the world’s physical infrastructures.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31916.wss

IBM announces Lotus Notes Traveler for Android
Lotus Notes Traveler for And roid beta version is no-charge software that provides two-way, over-the-air synchronization of information between Lotus Domino and mobile devices.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31936.wss

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts signs services agreement
IBM and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announced a new five-year services agreement in which IBM will transform the organization’s IT environment.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31991.wss

IBM, Esty Environmental Partners to address sustainability
A group of major companies have formed the Sustainability Innovators Working Group — aiming to define and develop new approaches to environmental management and corporate sustainability.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31988.wss

IBM, SCWA to address water management in California
IBM and the Sonoma County Water Agency have teamed up to address the pressing problem of water management in the heart of Northern California’s wine country.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31995.wss

New IBM software helps manage electronic trading
IBM unveiled a new technology platform designed to transform how financial services firms manage the data and transaction volumes generated by capital markets around the world.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31975.wss

Wall Street firms to increase IT spend through 2011
A new survey of IT Wall Street professionals reveals that almost one-half expect 20-30% of their technology budget to be allocated for transformational initiatives in 2010 and 2011.
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31976.wss

Complete index of IBM Happenings for 2004-2010

Tags: IBM, IBM Research, john patrick

Medicare – Part 2

Hard for me to believe but I am about to go on Medicare! As I described in a rant about browser issues, the experience to date has been only with the administrative aspects– the clinical part does not start until next month. The entire enrollment was able to be completed online at medicare.gov — no faxes, no forms, no paper — and once I got the password issue resolved, I concluded that the mymedicare.gov web site is pretty good. Several improvements have been made to the site since I first learned about it a few months ago and it provides a broad range of information. I was particularly pleased to see that they are promoting e-prescribing. Appears like the site is comprehensive — seems it handles most aspects of life with Medicare. Most — but not all.

Today I received the first payment notice from Medicare — the coverage is not free. Medicare requested payment for the first three months. A second letter referred to a higher amount that I would pay and it referred to a third letter that would explain where the higher amount came from. Turns out it comes from an income adjusted premium. Health and Human Services gets data from the IRS and determines what the 2010 Medicare premium should be based on 2008 adjusted gross income. Just like airline seats there is a wide range of premiums that people pay toward their government provided healthcare. It is also clear that the differential premium between those who pay and those who don’t will grow. I’ll leave it to the politicians to debate that and use this posting to talk about the payment method.

The premium payment notice offered the choice of using a credit card or sending a check. The web site has no payment options and  credit card payments can not be done by phone. An option for automatic ACH payments is available but you have to call to set it up. The call results in an “order” being placed to have a “package of forms” sent out. After returning the forms the setup will take 6-8 weeks. In the meantime the monthly premium will need to be paid by check or credit card. I can not think of a reason that such old fashioned payment methods are all that are available. Security and complexity would appear simple compared to the billions of dollars that Amazon handles so smoothly with no checks and forms. Perhaps the priority is not high to automate the payment side of Medicare since most payments are handled as deductions from social security payments. This will not be the case until I start receiving social security payments a year from now when I turn 66.

One good thing that HHS is doing is chasing after fraud. Ninety-four medical professionals around the U.S. were charged yesterday for their alleged involvement in a scheme to submit $251 million of false claims to Medicare. If it is a choice between automating my monthly payment versus deploying technology to eliminate or at least drastically reduce fraud I will clearly vote for the latter. IBM has been assisting in fraud detection for a long time (See  Fraud Reduction Could Fund A Chunk Of Healthcare). If ever there was a strong need for analytics it would be in fraud detection. By looking at patterns of provider applications, payment requests, repeat visits, diagnosis versus treatments, etc. it is possible to discern likely fraud. Billions of dollars have been recovered so far and unfortunately there are many more billions to go after. The amount of data is huge but the power of supercomputers and advanced analytics software is even more awesome. With thirty million more people coming into the healthcare system the number of transactions and potential for abuse will increase dramatically. The bad news is the likely increase in criminals targeting Medicare but the good news is that the tools are getting better and better and it appears that HHS is giving a high priority to applying the tools to the task at hand.

IBM is making large bets in healthcare beyond just fraud detection. Yesterday the company announced a three year Research investment to help medical practitioners and insurance companies provide high-quality, evidence-based care to patients and reduce costs.  As part of this initiative, IBM is hiring medical doctors to work alongside its researchers to develop new technologies, scientific advancements, and business processes for healthcare and insurance providers.

Other healthcare related stories on patrickWeb

Tags: fraud, Healthcare, IBM, medicare

Fatboy – A Quick GPS Upgrade

The motorcycle trip to Florida in April was one of the biggest adventures of all time for me (see the full story). We decided to take a week from our time at the Lake to go down to Florida to check on some things. Normally it would be considered unbearably hot in Florida in July but this year it was cooler than up north. At least on the day we departed for Flagler County Airport. Turned out to get even hotter than the north but we have still been having a good time. While here I decided to upgrade the GPS on the Fatboy. It was a simple plan but took two days! Riding the Harley-Davidson 2003 (Anniversary Year) Fatboy for 1,194 miles from Connecticut to Palm Coast, Florida back in April turned out to be the easy part.

I had purchased a cover for the Fatboy to protect it from salty air in the garage. When I got here Wednesday there was no salt on the bike but it was covered with mold and a frog was happily living under the engine. The cover was supposed to be “breathable” but seems instead it created an inviting environment for things to grow. I rode the bike down to Ormond Beach to Dino’s Detailing and they did an incredible job making the Fatboy look like new. While they had the bike I rented a 2008 Harley-Davidson Street Glide. The six speed 105 cubic inch touring bike was a joy to ride but it was great to get the Fatboy back again the next morning and then ride the long straight and flat back roads of Florida to Crescent Beach for lunch at Three Bananas. The total ride for the day was a very hot 150 miles.

The Garmin StreetPilot GPS was a great aid for the Fatboy for some years but it had outlived it’s usefulness. The $1,000 device was advanced five years ago but is a dinosaur now. BestBuy had an Insignia brand GPS for $69 that has more than sufficient functionality for motorcycling and I was able to get a nice handlebar mounting bracket that — with some Velcro in the right place — will be just fine. The only problem was that the electrical cable that I had installed for the Garmin is incompatible with the USB cable used by the Insignia. I could make the changes myself but figured that the Harley dealer in Daytona could do it much more quickly. They said “come on down” and they would do it right away. I rode down to Daytona Destination — the world’s largest Harley dealer — and right into the service entrance. (See photo gallery).

What I thought would be a 15 minute job turned out to be an hour and a half and in trying it out before paying the bill I noticed immediately that the GPS unit was very hot. To make a long story short the technician had not included the Insignia’s power adapter in the wiring. In other words he wired it so that the 12 volts from the bike battery was connected to the 5 volt USB cable to the GPS. Fried. It was now past 5 pm and the dealer closes at 6 PM. On the Fatboy, down I95 to International Speedway Blvd to Best Buy. To my amazement they took the fried unit back even though I had no receipt or packaging. Then on to Radio Shack to get a cigarette lighter adapter to connect the power adapter to the bike. Back to Daytona Destination at 5:45. The technician stayed and got the wiring finished by 6:30. Nice ride back up to Palm Coast in the balmy weather but with a nice breeze along A1A by the ocean and home just in time to join up with friends for dinner. See the gallery links below for pictures related to this story.

Destination Daytona (largest motorcycle dealer in the world)
Gallery of Fatboy pictures (and Garmin StreetPilot)
Rental bike from Ormond Beach

Tags: A1A, Best Buy, Daytona, detailing, Fatboy, Garmin, gps, harley, harley-davidson, I-95, I95, Insignia, motorcycle, motorcycling, Ormond Beach, Palm Coast, Street Glide

iPad – Part 9: The Seventeen Month Review

Most pundits are adults — if not seniors. Perhaps we should get some input from the younger crowd. Much younger. Like one of my grandchildren. After just seventeen months in this world my grandson has a perspective worth knowing about. – and seeing!

iPad stories on patrickWeb
Other gadget related stories on patrickWeb

Tags: grandchildren, grandson, ipad, Kindle, pundit

In The Clouds (Part 4)

The August issue of PC Magazine began the “magazine’s” 30th year and I have not missed an issue, although this is the first one I read on the iPad with Zinio. If someone had described the iPad to me back in 1981 it would have seemed like science fiction. Even the PC at that time seemed an amazing breakthrough. The first PC had a 5.25 inch diskette drive and no hard drive. Anybody have their archives on 5.25 inch diskettes?I hope not because it might be hard to find a drive to read them.

The First Word column by Lance Ulanoff over at PC Mag this month was called Storage Evolution in which Lance discusses how storage has evolved from one type of media to another. When a new size or type of storage is introduced it always seems that the new paradigm will last forever. In the grand scheme of things the evolution looks more like pings on a radar screen. They come and they go.  Sony has just made a decision to end production of the 3.5 inch disks. When the CD became popular for backing up our files it seemed to be the ultimate. Then came the DVD and then double sided and double depth. External drives, zip drives, USB keys, tape cartridges, and perhaps holographic storage soon. Getting the latest and greatest to backup your data is the easy part. What about five years from now when you want to restore some data from your archived storage? Will you have a PC or Mac that has a device that can read the storage medium you had chosen five years prior? Maybe and maybe not.

Why not let someone else worry about all this? There is something about clouds that brings the term into our daily lives. We say “it is a cloudy day”, or “there is not a cloud in the sky”, or if we feel especially elated or happy we might say “I feel like I am on cloud nine“.  More and more people are answering the question of where is there backed up data with “it’s in the cloud”. Some people worry about whether it will be safe and secure in the cloud but from my perspective it is important to compare the risk to that of keeping such data on your own computer. In fact I would say that the risk of your data getting compromised at a cloud backup service is less than the risk of your hard drive crashing or having your laptop stolen at Laguardia Airport, or at some point of being unable to read the data because the storage medium is incompatable with your computer.

Cloud services companies have a lot more at stake than we do when it comes to maintaining high integrity for their operations. They will keep your backup data backed up and they will use whatever the most cost-effective storage media is. As new kinds of media come along they will adopt it and migrate all your data to it. Their problem, not yours. The argument for using them is compelling from my point of view. There are many companies that offer backup services including Mozy, Carbonite, and SOS. See PC Magazine for a review. I have been using idrive.com for quite some time and have found it very reliable. The services can be setup to automaticaly make backups while you are sleeping. You can have the backups run daily, weekly, or even continuously so that whenever a file changes on your computer a backup is made in the cloud. The best part is that you don’t have to buy any devices and worry about how compatible they may be in the future.

Is cloud computing for businesses or for consumers? It is for people. Businesses do not buy from businesses. People in businesses buy from people in businesses. People work at businesses and people work at home. Some people are students and some are e-tired. Clouds are all about making people more productive and increasingly the clouds will be where we will keep all of our data that feel is important.

Other patrickWeb stories that refer to “clouds”

Tags: backup, backup service, cloud, cloud computing, cloud services, diskette, dvd, holographic, ipad, media, pc magazine, storage, storage medium, tape, usb