Apple finally updates its one button mouse…

Tags: [Apple, Apple Computer, mouse]

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Laboratory for Automation Psychology at the University of Maryland. Kent Norman discussed a few things, but his passion involves the study of computer rage. I encourage you to take his survey.

May 6, 2005, Spot on Good Morning America (ABC):
“Computer Rage”(MOV 6.3MB)

On another note, I would encourage you to check out some information that was available from the University of Maryland/Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory Symposium and Open House on June, 2005.

Tags: [Kent Norman, HCI, UMCP, University of Maryland, computer rage]

The Hook

I was incredibly skeptical, but now I’m a believer! For months I’ve wanted to get a laptop. Sure, it was not needed for work, but I thought it would be beneficial for a variety of reasons. First, I am a technophile, but I felt I could really use the laptop for grad school and I argued that I could spend more time with my wife (instead of being locked away in the home office, I could still do computer work in the convenience of the family room while my wife watched television). Unfortunately, my wife was not too keen on us spending >$1000 for my dream of having an Apple Computer laptop. She insisted that we could just get an inexpensive pc laptop like a Dell. Noooooo!

Then I stumbled across an “internet marketing” promotion. You may be familiar with them – “get a free iPod by getting 6 of your friends to sign up and register for X.” This promotion, offered by the Internet Opinion Group, used a different business model that I agreed with. Instead of bugging friends and family to complete stupid tasks like signing up for a credit card, I took sole responsibility for being the sucker. Depending on the value of the desired gift, registrants are required to participate in purchasing up to 6 products and/or services in order to complete the business transaction. Think of it as an alternate method for consumer advertising.

I was skeptical about whether or not the iBook would be new or used, but they promoted a 14″ iBook (or similar product) with the following specifications: iBook G4, 1 GHz processor, 256 MB RAM, OSX. I started my adventure by signing up on March 6, 2005.

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More Than Just the Chips?

I thought I’d jump into the never-ending Apple rumor fray. BetaNews reports on July 6, 2005 that:

“Intel announced that it is investing in a company called ClickStar with the intent to create a distribution system for films over the Internet before they are released to home video.”

Is it just a coincidence that Intel and Apple are partnering to produce chips for upcoming Apple computers in 2006? Seems interesting to me that Apple already has a great vehicle for distributing content, which could easily include movies.

Tags: [Apple, Intel, iTunes, movies, ClickStar]

I recently read a CIO Magazine article that discusses some of problems the FBI has faced while attempting to implement technical solutions. Although technology projects have been successfully implemented, there still exists a culture that mimimizes the importance of these solutions. The article states

Azmi [FBI CIO] is aware of the mountain that faces him—not to mention the consequences if he fails to deliver the support systems the agents need to fight against high-tech crime and terrorism. “Looking at the mission of the FBI and how critical it is, I will tell you that we are at war,” he says. “And the best tool we have is information, and if information doesn’t get to agents on the street in time, then we haven’t done our job properly.”

Last year I wrote a paper entitled, “Effective Culture Change.” The paper was written as part of a graduate school team experience for the Department of Justice’s Library Services division. Although the paper was targeted to a specific audience within the DoJ‘s Justice Management Division, I feel the paper could be used to address some of the culture problems within the FBI and the DoJ as a whole.

First, let me define organizational culture. Claver, et al. (2001, p.248) define organizational culture as:

“A set of values, symbols and rituals shared by the members of a specific firm, which describes the way things are done in an organization in order to solve both internal management problems and those related to customers, suppliers and the environment.”

This culture manifests itself at both a visible level (age, ethnicity, gender, dress, organizational structure, symbols, slogans, etc.) and an invisible level (time, motivation, stability vs. change, orientation towards work, individualism vs. collaboration, control, how management views IT, etc.).

I believe the primary reason for failed IT projects and a revolving door of CIOs at the FBI is primarily due to the agency’s culture, not failed technologies or poor CIO leadership. Let me elaborate…

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It must be the end of the world as we know it:

It’s official: Apple shifting to Intel chips

“Macintosh computers using Intel Corp. chips will be on the market by this time next year, with all Apple Macs moved over to Intel chips by the end of 2007, Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs announced today at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco.”

Tags: [Apple, mac, Steve Jobs, Intel]

One of my interests is information culture – are people generally willing or unwilling to share information? In a corporate or military setting, reasons for hoarding information might be perfectly justified. Corporations do not want to make public information that might be used by competitors. The military may not want its adversaries to know of its capabilities and strategies.

Internet and software-savvy persons (e.g., social software users, open source software developers) tend to advocate information sharing. Indeed, an information sharing culture often breeds knowledge and innovation. Nonetheless, some people refuse to share information, for one reason or another. Some people feel that their job security rests on being seen as an expert. If the information they possess is shared, then perhaps their job won’t be seen as necessary.

Although I understand the validity of both the need for information security and information sharing, I feel we need to be ever so careful with how we use the proliferation of social software that has grown in the last few years.

For example, I absolutely love the Flickr service. I use it mostly to share pictures with friends and family. However, if I so choose, I can share pictures with virtual strangers from all over the world. Consider the following picture:

U.S. Secret Service Training Facility, MD

There’s been a recent fascination with Memory Mapping, the process of identifying satellite photos of places one is familiar with, and then identifying specific landmarks with notations.

What makes this photo interesting is that it is a screen capture of a U.S. Secret Service training facility in Maryland. I used a publically available satellite imaging service, in this case Google Maps (see also Terraserver & Microsoft Terraserver USA), to locate the site I was familiar with.

I assume that if the images are provided by the USGS, then they can be used freely by anyone. However, now that GPS devices are readily available and image services offer coordinates for specific locations, how much easier might it be for armchair vigilantes to perform malicious acts? I’m sure some of the images are sanitized or scrubbed, but what if some classified locations are missed?

Information sharing is the cornerstone of the social software scene and is essential in open source development. However, these persons who follow the “information sharing” credo must be careful to understand the local and federal laws they abide by, and understand that sharing isn’t always a good thing.

Tags: [memory maps, Google maps, satellite, security, information security, social software, Flickr]

I came across a blog posting today with the title, “Federal Government Discriminates against Mac Users.” The author, a federally funded research professor, was finding difficulty applying for federal funding because he had to use the PureEdge Viewer to submit his application for grant funding to the Grants.gov site. His problem is that he is a Mac user and Macs are only supported if you don’t mind using a pc simulation program such as Virtual PC. I’ve used VPC, but IMHO it has not proven to be a viable solution for Mac users, particularly for something as important as conducting business with the federal government. Some Mac users have previously voiced their concerns at places such as the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP).

So, the question is, why does this federal site, which has the authority for consolidating the business of grant funding among a majority of federal agencies, have the authority to mandate a technology that can only be used by users of one operating system? There are federal mandates such as Section 508 that provide for equal access to web applications for handicapped individuals. Shouldn’t there be an equal access technology policy too?
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As I think about personal information management, or PIM, I often oscillate between the strengths and weaknesses of technology consolidation and separation. Let me explain…

Right now I have a Palm, an iPod, a mobile phone, and a digital camera. In addition, I use a pc at work and a Mac at home.

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