Category Archives: Wicked IS

Book Review: Information, Technology, and Innovation: Resources for Growth in a Connected World

“Futurist” John M. Jordan’s Information, Technology, and Innovation: Resources for Growth in a Connected World is encyclopedic in coverage of trends and effects from digital transformation.  As a seasoned instructor, novices will benefit from Dr. Jordan’s introduction and topic development.  However, advanced readers will also benefit both from the breadth of discussion, as well as the notes that accompany each chapter.

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As an early fan of futurist George Gilder, I was pleased to see the book begin with the “second half of the chessboard” story.  Further insight into the book can be divined from its five sections:  Foundations, Work and Organization, Business Model Disruption, Technology Landscapes, and Some Big Questions. 

Many will agree that our economy moved from industrial to automation with the transistor invention.  This book helps support the important notion that we are now transforming from automation to a subsequent economy.  In particular, leaders and educators should pay heed to Dr. Jordan’s “some big questions” section.  Here Dr. Jordan summarizes implications ranging from identity and privacy, to innovation.

“Launch Lots of Airplanes”

Knowledge at Wharton recently published, “Why the Job Search is Like ‘Throwing Paper Airplanes into the Galaxy‘.”  I love this imagery.  It clearly describes a process that, while not broken, could be much improved.  For example, apps such as  Startwire offer a supply-side solution where students pool information on search progress.

The bottom line is that interviewing requires:

  1. Patience
  2. Persistence 
  3. Confidence

in no circumstance should a student infer that the lack of a response means anything more than, just that.  I strongly encourage students to get contact information at the interview for two reasons. The first is to be polite and send a thank you email. The second is to have a followup person should you find yourself in the “quiet zone.”

New Google Privacy Policies Begin

Since Google privacy policy changes begin March 1, 2012, some users are using Leap day to clear search diaries in browsers, as well as online.  The Washington Post, among others, provides instructions to remove this information. 

For me, it was a trip down memory lane to review two years of online search data at http://www.google.com/history.  Let me just say that as an instructor of a wide variety of courses and topics, I had some very interesting search data.  By the way, if you like, be sure to share your #stupidgooglesearches!


Note that Google captures search data, when searching with Google, regardless of the browser “privacy” settings.  If you are logged into one of the sixty Google applications, the search data is also personally tracked to you.


Benefits from tracking search histories includes targeted advertising, such as Amazon’s “here are some books in which you may be interested”.    Of course, until the bugs get worked, out this can backfire.  This in fact happened when a joke posted by Nick Bergus on Facebook (see CNET article) made him an unwitting pitchman to his Facebook friends for a 55-gallon tub of Amazon.com lubricant on sale for $1,495.

Reading–Not just the “what,” but the “how”

My first ebook platform was the Kindle app on an iPad.  Dr. Pete Forster had recommended Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10, describing events of posthumous Medal of Honor recipient and Penn State alumni, Lt. Michael Murphy.  Since I am not a fan of reading long articles on a computer, I was skeptical of this experiment.  To make the test even more difficult, I planned to begin reading the ebook in bright sunlight while attending a men’s slow-pitch softball game.

I was hooked immediately.  By itself, Lone Survivor is a remarkable introduction to SEAL training in general, and the Operation Redwing tragedy in particular.  I am sure I would have put up with any ebook challenge to finish this gripping story.  However, unlike bulky computers, the ebook actually facilitated reading by enhancing reader control and flexibility.  For example, I found I prefer a large font in white characters on a black background.  This combination works well, I discovered, in both bright sunlight and dark rooms.

“What” to read has not been a challenge, but there are some strategic “how” issues emerging.  For example, I enjoy collecting free Kindle classics, or an occasional Project Gutenberg book.  I love knowing I can bring my entire library with me to the doctor’s office or on vacation.

I selected the Kindle version, since comments and highlights in hardcopies are difficult to retrieve.  Kindle, however, allows readers to make and export notes and highlights.

Hardcopies are still needed, especially if I want to share them or include contents in a lesson plan.  In these cases, I comply with Stanley and Danko’s[1] research that suggests beginning with a library copy.  This was recently the case with Washington Post reporters Priest and Arkin’s Top Secret America.  In just a few dozen pages, though, I realized I would need to purchase this book to make highlights and notes. 

I selected the Kindle version, since comments and highlights in hardcopies are difficult to retrieve.  Kindle, however, allows readers to make and export notes and highlights.  They are automatically tracked at https://kindle.amazon.com/.  In fact, you can keep your notes private, or make them public.  You may also review public notes and highlights from other readers since Amazon lists “Highly Followed People” and “Books With the Most Public Notes.”

To read Former hacker Kevin Poulsen’s Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground, I checked out the digital copy from our local library.  The library-required iPad Overdrive App is a compromise, since it allows me to “check out” new books on an iPad, but not the ability to make notes.  In this case, I will probably end up purchasing the book;  I now know it will be necessary in lesson plans.

Some books are available in browsers with Internet access only, such as the “on line” books listed in the Penn State Library “Cat.”  To click on these links, log in to the library before clicking on the online link.  Google Books and the Google Books Project at Penn State are other browser options requiring Internet access.

So as you can see, the question now is not just what to read, but also how. 


[1] Advice to borrow library books and not purchase, comes from researchers Stanley and Danko in The Millionaire Next Door

Wicked IS – Aliens vs. Cowboys?

The sci-fi and Western mashup did not begin with the 2011 “Cowboys & Aliens” movie starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.  Henry Cribbs elaborates on the  “weird-Western” genre in his blog (i.e., think Wild Wild West, for example, or some  Quantum Leap and Star Trek episodes).

What is really interesting is when life imitates art.  Recently, a weird-Western event came to life when a sheriff department called in a border patrol Predator B drone to help take down some alleged cattle rustlers in North Dakota (see story in the LA Times).

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It is inevitable that such events will  escalate the spirited U.S. privacy vs. surveillance discussion.  This discussion first began, possibly, when wire tapping followed the invention of the telephone, and has continued ever since, such as the California student that had to return the secret FBI tracking device he discovered on his car (see story in Wired). 

The  Washington Post predicts that technologies and techniques “honed for use on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan” will  migrate into American law enforcement agencies (see story in the Washington Post).  Issues will result when the relatively slower legislative process is faced with a flood of technologies developed in the post 9/11 defense economy.

In the meantime, privacy advocates may find good news from Bill Macki, head of the Grand Forks’ police SWAT team, that said, “We don’t use [drones] on every call out. If we have something in town like an apartment complex, we don’t call them.”

Google Ngram Viewer – Plotting Word Usage at the Speed of Light

In the light-speed world of information change I find myself trying to determine when a term first started to be used.  In some cases I am trying to find the most appropriate current usage or spelling, while in other cases I am trying to determine whether a term or concept has recently morphed to another track.  Google’s “Ngram Viewer” may provide insight.

Recently Google introduced its “Books Ngram Viewer” to plot word usage from millions of books in Google’s growing digital library.  Journalist Robert Holt discusses Ngram Viewer in more detail in his 17 December 2010 Wall Street Article “New Google Database Puts Centuries of Cultural Trends in Reach of Linguists.”

The Ngram Viewer is based on data derived from the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) interpreting millions of books that vary in quality and English usage.  For example, the long, medial or descending “s” appears as an “f.”  Congrefs(in Wikipedia article on the United States Bill of Rights) shows usage of this character.  As a result, word traces from earlier periods may be less accurate (Google discusses Ngram issues here). 

This shouldn’t cause problems for me studying more recent terms, except for instances of time-traveling software engineers (i.e.possible explanation of why the phrase “Internet” occurs before 1950).

Student Spotlight: Paul Seitz “Manages” an MRP Project

Paul Seitz is a Smeal finance major with a minor in economics. Paul spent an exciting summer in Santa Ana, California, working as an intern at Pioneer Circuits.  This company makes circuitry for the military, NASA/ JPL and others. 

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As an intern, he managed four different projects.  He needed to make sure the projects were not only correct, but also delivered on-time to the appropriate managers.  Analysis included a technologically advanced line of machinery, labor costs, purchasing costs, and supply chains. 

Paul emailed me regarding a project he was working on to identify an appropriate MRP system.  MRP (material resource planning) systems help manufacturers plan and track manufacturing projects, including the necessary resources.  Currently the term ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is more commonly used to describe a broader MRP initiative.  Microsoft elaborates on ERP at their website. 

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Among other suggestions, I also advised Paul to visit a tradeshow or schedule meetings with value added resellers (VAR) in the area.  The latter was a successful strategy that I used in business when I was managing similar projects.  Be advised, though, that VARs can be a great source of information and even help guide questions that need to be answered, but at least some can be a bit deceptive and aggressive.  I usually met with three to five VARs before I felt I had a good start of what I was looking for (and what I was not).

Wicked IS – What’s a “hulu”?

breakthrough.pngThis is big.  One of the biggest media events I have seen in years.  And, somewhat ironically, especially for a media concern, it comes with relatively little fanfare.

What I am talking about is the March 2008 introduction of hulu.com

Few things in life have been quite as predictable as content providers misreading technology-enabled market opportunities.  We have watched recent miscues include unsuccessful battles with Napster, digital rights management, and Youtube.  What’s a content provider to do – after all, aren’t they supposed to be king?

Technology began sideswiping content providers back when Radio wiped out vaudeville, then broadcast TV dumped radio, followed by the wake of cable and satellite TV.  You would think such a turbulent history would have produced experienced managers capable of embracing technology.  Instead, whether Internet distribution or progressive digital rights management, content providers have always chosen a slow, antagonistic and anachronistic approach.  Until now, that is.

Hulu.com provides extensive directories of movies and TV shows from more than 50 content providers (including FOX, NBC, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, and more).  Shows include  full-length episodes of current primetime TV shows such as The Simpsons and The Office the morning after they air, classics like Miami Vice and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and clips from Saturday Night Live, Nip/Tuck, and others. Hulu also offers full-length feature films like The Usual Suspects, Ice Age, Three Amigos!, and The Big Lebowski as well as clips from films such as Napoleon Dynamite, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Devil Wears Prada and many more.

Best of all, Hulu is free and ad-supported and is available anytime in the U.S.  Hulu was founded in March 2007 and is a joint venture owned by NBC Universal and News Corp. In addition, Hulu has closed a $100 million investment from private equity firm Providence Equity Partners.

Besides the current blockbusters mentioned above, Hulu.com also features classics from the early days of TV including “I Spy” (Robert Culp and Bill Cosby) as well as “Lost in Space.”   I find the video quality extremely high and the site easy to use.  The commercials, at 15 seconds, are tastefully embedded into the video stream.

This more than makes up for NBC pulling all its content posted by fans on Youtube.

Wicked IS – Vanity Press Yourself

My family takes lots of pictures each year that are never seen.  It is so easy to press that button, but so hard to do much more.  Recently we’ve seen tremendous growth in websites dedicated to helping photographers “share “photos with others.  For a price, these sites will print the photo on paper or even novelty items like coffee cups.  I have never taken advantage of these sites for printing, though, as I am averse to the shipping cost.  Other sites, such as Wal-Mart, have eliminated shipping costs by allowing a user to send photos for printing to a particular store.

Book.pngAs an alternative, I have played with Windows Movie Maker, Google’s Picasa and Apple’s iMovie to burn photo slide shows to disks.  This has been useful for sharing groups of photos with friends.  I am not sure, based on my experience, that these shows are ever watched more then once.

A tradition we began a few years ago was to create an annual family calendar.  Basically a 13 page calendar (12 months plus 1 front page) can display ~60 of the best photos from the previous year. Selecting the best becomes part of the fun.  I was happy to see at least a few of the photos escaping their digital confines.  I save the calendars at the end of the year as a somewhat floppy photo album.

Anidea that recently caught my eye is the vanity press reengineered for our digital age.  Stephen Wildstrom, author of Technology & You for BusinessWeek, recently described Blurb’s BookSmart software and publishing.  For as little as $20, an author can capture a collection of photos, blogs or other assets in a professional book.  I think this could be a great and relatively inexpensive way to capture and share an important event with others. 

I’ll have to tell my wife we need a coffee table – we’ll need someplace to share these books!  With a little creative effort, vacations, weddings and other celebrations can be memorialized in an accessible format.

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Stephen H. Wildstron (2008), “So You Want to Publish That Novel,” BusinessWeek, January 9, downloaded Feb. 22, 2008 from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_03/b4067000256155.htm?chan=technology_tech+maven+page+-+new_digital+entertainment

Wicked IS – Apostrophe Befuddle Computers

As sophisticated and advanced as current computing may seem, the truth is FordModelT.jpgwe actually have a long way to go.  In fact, since we are only a few years into the  Web-World, I suggest we are actually in the Model-T era of computing. I liken the sputtering, hand-cranking early days of marvelous automobiles to our current large, clunky desktops with blue screens of death.  Just as cars have evolved substantially in quality and features since their origin, I suspect we should also expect a fantastic century of computing innovation ahead.

A recent article by Associated Press writer Sean ODriscoll reinforces my belief by describing computer problems when processing names that contain an apostrophe, hyphen or even a surname such as “van.”  Even the few programmers that have anticipated such names in their data entry forms can see their efforts undone by an uncooperative database computing system.  Apparently such a problem kept thousands of voters out of the 2004 Michigan caucus.

For now, I have a wait and see attitude.  I marvel at advancements such as groupware (and other forms of social computing) as well as the “miracle” of placing an international video-call from my computer for free (see my Skype blog).

Sean ODriscoll (2008), “Apostrophes in Names Stir Lot O’ Trouble,” Centre Daily Times, Downloaded 22 February 2008 from http://www.centredaily.com/news/nation/story/418396.html