Facebook to go public!!!

Facebook is going public.

It is going to have an IPO (initial public offering) of stock.

"The company is looking at a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion, a person familiar with the matter said."

Would you invest? The number of Facebook users is more than all individuals countries other than China and India

According to Facebook: "

• More than 800 million active users. More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user has 130 friends"

Speculation - what does the iPad 3 need

Taken from:

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Networking/Apple-iPad-3-10-HighPriority-Features-We-Want-in-the-New-Tablet-739540/?kc=EWKNLBOE01272012FEA1

The next version of the iPad is rumored for March or April 2012. eWeek looked at ten features it thought were needed:

1) Siri - the voice activated personal assistant

2) Different screen sizes - more options for more people

3) 3D support - especially good for gamers

4) Glare control - when compared to the Amazon Kindle eReader, the iPad has glare issues for reading books

5) Wireless charging - get away from the plug

6) Longer battery life - it seems like we plug ours in over night

7) Gorilla glass - thinner, more sensitive and brighter

8) Retina display - better for the naked eye

9) Vibration effect - for gamers (and other app developers)

10) Near Field Communication - like Google Wallet

If I were to pick my top three, they would be:

Siri - voice activated personal assistant

Near Field Communicaiton

Gorilla glass

But, I'd also like

- better interfaces - like being able to easily adapt my iPad to a screen projector in a classroom

- more memory - so I can really have documents on the iPad (or ... a great interface to save documents on DropBox or other)

- standard software - Microsoft Office (see previous posts on Windows phone)

Best apps for staying productive

Taken from:

http://www.cio.com/slideshow/detail/27689/10-Best-Windows-Phone-Apps-for-Staying-Productive?source=CIONLE_nlt_insider_2012-01-24

This article looked at some apps for the Windows Phone (not the iPhone). Some I liked were:

• Microsoft Office Mobile 2010. When I get a message with a Word (or Excel) attachment on the iPad, I can generally view it, but not much more.
• Evernote. I've used Evernote on the iPad - just a quick 'jot it down' kind of app, but useful in meetings - and can have images
• SkyDrive - store those documents in the cloud!!!
• HandyScan - so ... when I'm traveling and I want to scan receipts, documents, etc, this looks like a good app to have!!
• eWalletGo - a solidly encrypted place for all those many passwords
• My Trips - a way to store trip information - flights, hotels, rental cars, etc.

Apps are growing more robust!!!

Why Apple doesn't make iPhones in the US

Taken from:

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/01/why-apple-doesnt-make-the-iphone-in-america/

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=4&pagewanted=all

Two quotes:

"It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple’s executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that “Made in the U.S.A.” is no longer a viable option for most Apple products."

and

"Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States.

In China, it took 15 days."

The article would make it sound like the number of people, engineers and high tech facilities in China outpaces the US - so .. while Apple would love to sell the iPhone (and iPads and iPods and computers) to all Americans; they make them in China!!

An entertainment diversion (Spotify)

Taken from:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2011/tc2011055_645076.htm

Spotify is moving from a free service to a sales app - as it competes with Apple. With Spotify, you can now buy music - and through their app load it up to an iPod (and avoid going through Apple's iTunes).

The article suggests:

"There are still plenty of weaknesses: It doesn't have an American service (some have suggested that Apple is exerting influence over record labels to stymie Spotify's move into America). It's still pretty poor at the process of music discovery—the service is great if you know what you want to listen to, but if you're looking for a radio-type service, then it's got a long way to go.And, if we're comparing it to iTunes, it still only does music."

It isn't the only company that has tried to be alternate to Apple / iTunes - so we'll have to wait and see how successful they become!!!

BYOD!!!

Loosely taken from:

http://www.cio.com/article/698358/Can_Employee_Owned_Devices_Save_Companies_Money_#disqus_thread

So ... your employees want to bring their tablet computers, smartphones, and all kinds of laptops into the environment (i.e. BYOD - bring your own devices). Is that good?

Quinnipiac University used to have a standard laptop - (maybe with two or three options for processor and storage) - basically a Dell Laptop. If you ordered it from the campus - it came preloaded with standard campus-wide software (Microsoft Office, etc.). It had security on it.

But students (yes, those crazy students) [with their parents] started to bring in Macs, and other laptops. This was a real problem for the help desk - who (at that time anyway) said "Sorry, we don't support that device". If you had a problem with a campus laptop - great - turn it in, get it fixed, reimaged, even get a new computer if things were too bad. (I once got a new keyboard after I spilled coffee into the old one).

In recent years (with some reluctance), campus IT has allowed (and somewhat supported) all laptops and devices - Mac's, other PC's, tablets, etc. This is harder for the help desk to support, but is more user-friendly to the campus population.

Can a business get by with a BYOD policy? Maybe - what if the applications the business wants are only on iPads or iPhones? (Or Blackberry or just PC laptops?) What about security and protection of data? With a lot of work and support, a company can do the BYOD - and keep employees happy - and productive!!!

The Mobile Enterprise - Killing IT's Sacred Cows

Taken from:

http://www.cio.com/article/698334/The_Mobile_Enterprise_Killing_IT_s_Sacred_Cows

I found this to be very interesting. One paragraph from the article has this:

"Only two years ago, Starkey began buying up iPads and spinning out apps for salespeople, executives, customers, audiologists and patients of its hearing aids, ear-molds and other hearing-related products. Like the crowd gathering in the wee morning hours, CIOs wanting to adopt cutting-edge iPads and mobile apps must break from tradition and look excitedly toward the future." (note ... Starkey is a hearing device manufacturer).

The article goes on to describe how the (new) CIO of Starkey came in from the outside - from having to fit IT to being its leader. He says you need to "kill" these sacred cows of IT:

1) "NOT Approved" activities (Starkey started using iPads, smartphones, etc. - where traditional IT would not approve them)

2) Justifying by ROI (the iPads may not justify themselves in the balance sheets [yet], but there is greatly improved customer service - and an impression that this is a good company!!)

3) Start-ups need not apply (many companies avoid start-ups - not enough history, may be bought up and be unable to continue) - Starkey CIO things innovation and excitement come with start-ups

4) Don't rock the boat (he contends that being aggressive is the way to go)

Bruce's comment - I love innovation and forward thinking ideas (I tend to be an entrepreneur at heart) - but one needs to do his/her research and "look before you leap"

3) Start-up need no apply

Zappos Hacked

I'm a guest speaker ("expert") on Fox News out of Hartford this evening about Zappos getting hacked - with an estimated 24 million account holders being compromised.

Supposedly, they lost this information: Name, address, email address, phone, and last four digits of their credit card account.

Two questions - how did it happen and what should a consumer do?

1) Seemingly the hacker(s) got into through a server in Kentucky. Whether they knew a person who worked there, or could guess what his/her password was, they were able to get through the firewall. The question is generally "Not if a company can be hacked, but when it is hacked". If somebody wanted to hack into my online accounts enough, I'm sure they can do it.

2) When you get notification that you have been hacked; change your password online as soon as possible; then (generally) the company should give you credit card monitoring (Experion, TransUnion and Equifax) for a period of time - take advantage of that - check your account monthly. It might be that no action will occur for a few months, then the hackers will take out new credit cards, buy items, etc. on your account(s).

In this case, they also (supposedly) got the email addresses - that could be a massive phishing effort - with fake Zappos accounts. I can see "Dear Zappos Customer. Our system was hacked and we need to verify your account - go to http://fakezapposite.com and enter your Zappos account number and credit card number" it could be massive!!!

Microsoft Comeback in 2012 (??)

Taken from:

http://blogs.cio.com/operating-systems/16742/microsoft-2012-comeback-kid?source=CIONLE_nlt_insider_2012-01-16

"Look, it's not as if Microsoft lacks for money ($70 billion in revenue in 2011). Yet the Redmond-based company has been getting its butt kicked over the past decade in emerging markets as Apple, Google and Amazon became mobile and cloud computing innovators. If there was any year for Microsoft to break out of it "profitable but boring" pigeon hole, this is it."

Let's see .. profitable but boring - is that Microsoft? We all use Microsoft Office. PC users user the Microsoft Operating Systems (unless you install Linux). Yes, a bit on the boring side.

But ... the article highlights some Microsoft activities at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Two new Windows phones (but ... still less than Android or Apple); XBox Kinect (okay - that is more than boring); and ... work towards a 'real' (functional, competitive) Windows tablet.

Having been a PC user all my life (my iPad is more of a novelty yet), and loving two buttons (click and right click - and not knowing how to do it on a Mac), I do hope that Microsoft does make a comeback in 2012!!!! (Bill Gates or not ...). Maybe I am the geek on the old Mac versus PC commercials!!!

SOPA - Stop online piracy act

Taken from:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223444/SOPA_author_to_remove_ISP_blocking_provision

"The lead sponsor of the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act, a controversial copyright enforcement bill, will remove a much-debated provision that would require Internet service providers to block their subscribers from accessing foreign websites accused of infringing the copyrights of U.S. companies."

The concept of the Stop Online Piracy Act is simple - block access to companies that imitate American companies - and / or sell illegal copies of software and services.

There are many websites and countries that are unregulated. These might like the table vendors in NYC that sell Coach purses for $10 (or ... fake Coach purses). The internet is largely unregulated - and almost anything goes. While this proposal has controversial points, it might be a step in the right direction.

Google Social Search - part II

(see previous blog post).

The article suggests four things:

1) No one can see your private content (unless you have shared them)

2) You don't have to see private results - there are icons on the search menu to show - or not show the private results. You can also log out of Google (logout / close Gmail / Google Plus / etc.) and the searches will not include the private results. So, if you don't want to see Jane Doe's Milky Way pictures, use the option to not show private results

3) You can manage the Google+ information (such as people that you don't know well always showing up in your search results - you can take them out of your circles or choose to ignore them)

4) You don't have to appear in autocomplete lists (you can opt out by changing your profile - so that it doesn't get indexed by search engines [aka Google])

There is an adage - what goes onto the web, stays on the web!!! Thorough sites like the "Wayback Machine" http://www.archive.org/web/web.php - you can find what websites looked like sometime in the past. So, even if you deleted that embarrassing picture from that wild party five years ago, it still exists ... someplace on the web!!! (Scary thought for some of us!!)

Google Social Search

Taken from:

http://www.cio.com/article/697954/4_Google_Social_Search_Tips_for_Control_and_Privacy?source=CIONLE_nlt_insider_2012-01-13&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cio%2Ffeed%2Fdrilldowntopic%2F3154+%28CIO.com+-+IT+Organization%29

Google recently (Tuesday January 10, 2012) announced some 'enhancements' to the Google search that incorporates social networking sites (most specifically Google accounts - like Google Plus; Google Photos; etc.

There are three new features:

-Personal Results. This will feature information from your Google+ photos and posts

-Profiles in Search. Which displays people you know or (according to Google) might be interesting to you.

-People and Pages. This feature (supposedly) will help you find people's profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with a few clicks.

So ... a Google search now includes more social networking (depending on the search). So, if you search for "The Milky Way" (galaxy), and your friend Jane Doe has pictures of the Milky Way on her Google Photos site, that may come up in the results. (Note, the results must be public).

As we well know, Google "knows" a lot about me (from my searches over the years, my gmail account, my Google Plus account, etc.). It uses that information to customize ads that might be relevant to me (and thus gain revenue when I click on those ads). But ... I think it might be a little disconcerting when a 'regular' search now shows me information that my friends have posted in public places as well.

Eight ways to better BI

Taken from:

http://www.information-management.com/gallery/BI-Scorecard-business-intelligence-success-10021581-1.html?ET=informationmgmt:e2764:2262124a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IM_Daily_120211

This articles has these 8 points:

1. Focus on Value during development - it doesn't have to be perfect!!!
2. Establish leadership and communications between business and IT - can your business find a 'hybrid' person - who has business skills and IT skills?
3. Provide ongoing measurement - BI wants (needs?) analytical data - quantitative stuff (like ROI)
4. Get agile - okay - we'd all like to be more agile - but this is referring to a methodology called "agile" - where users (i.e. 'the business') and IT works together very closely
5. Initiate dialogue - BI MUST have communication with the business side (IT needs to be part of the strategy!!)
6. Seek standards - it is generally good for an organization / company / enterprise to use the same tools - tool A for some departments and tool B for others might cause a mis-match (hey - an ERP system might help too!!!)
7. Keep an eye on innovation - what neat stuff is going on with the users in regards to analytics? Are some people using the data for some great results?
8. Don't forget support - a tool that isn't supported isn't going to get used. If something hangs up - who do you call?

Building your career on LInkedIn

Taken from:

http://www.cio.com/article/697424/5_LinkedIn_Tips_for_Career_Success_in_2012?source=CIONLE_nlt_insider_2012-01-09&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cio%2Ffeed%2Fsolution%2F1375+%28CIO.com+-+News%29

This article has five points: (summarized below):

1) Focus on your profile - what is your focus? What do you want to be? Is it clear?

2) Make LinkedIn Today part of your daily routine. (I have not done this in the past - I need to check it out!!)

3) Brand yourself as an expert with 'answers' - be able to give good, solid technical answers (and look like a 'good guy' to others

4) Refresh your profile - even if not job seeking - keep on top of what you are doing and have done

5) Make new connections in 2012

I am on LinkedIn - but am not looking for a new job. For my students, this is a professional network that you can use to your advantage!!!

Will the new CMO spend more on IT then the CIO?

Taken from:

http://www.information-management.com/blogs/CIO_CMO_tech_spending-10021722-1.html?ET=informationmgmt:e2865:2262124a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IM_Daily_010512

In the article: " Now, according to Gartner analyst Laura McLellan, the next and biggest fiefdom to claim IT ownership is marketing, and she predicts that by 2017 chief marketing officers will spend more on IT than their counterpart CIOs."

Hmm ... the blending of IT and Marketing is getting closer. In my last blog post before this one, one of the hot IT jobs for 2012 was: "Socialite".

So ... master's students - you need to understand ALL the tools (including IT and marketing and ... finance, accounting, management, etc.)

Bruce

Up and coming tech jobs - and how to land one!!!

Taken from:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222928/Up_and_coming_tech_jobs_and_how_to_land_one?source=CTWNLE_nlt_dailyam_2012-01-03

Some highlights:

• Director of Cloud Transformation (IT professionals to oversee the process)
• Socialite!!! (people with strong marketing and IT skills - interesting!!)
• Data Scientist (collect, understand, interpret and make business sense of data)
• Augmented Reality Specialist (???) (frequently a mobile app with streets, landscapes, etc.)
• Chief Agile Officer
• Flexible Resource Manager
• Health Informatics Expert
• Machine to Machine Communications integrator
• Outsourcing / offshoring manager

Thinking of the first title - director of Cloud Transformation - the article wrote: ""This position is like being a conductor of an orchestra. It's a series of 500 projects over seven years. You have to make sure it works and it's sequenced," he says. "No one person is an expert on all of it," which means multiple specialists are often involved -- and that, in turn, spurs some companies to seek out an overseeing director."

Moving to the cloud has some great advantages - but also some threats (like control of data and security). The Director of Cloud Transformation will have his/her hands full - but it should be an exciting ride with lots of hard work (and good financial rewards).

More from the six hot IT jobs for 2012

User Experience Designers:

Taken from: http://www.cio.com/article/695585/6_Hot_IT_Jobs_That_Will_Pay_Well_in_2012?page=2&taxonomyId=3123

#3 on the six hot IT jobs list is "User Experience Designers" - so ... what is that?

"Because so many of the apps companies are developing—whether for PCs or mobile devices—are customer facing, they need user interface or user experience designers to ensure the apps are fun and intuitive to use. Robert Half anticipates starting salaries for user experience designers to rise 6.7 percent, to between $71,750 and $104,000 per year."

Designing the front end of an app takes a person with user understanding - the layout needs to be aesthetically appealing, consistent, with a minimum of user effort and designed for ease of use.

So, even for the lesser technical person, designing the graphical interface is important - and takes some different skills!!!

Six Hot IT jobs for 2012 #1 - Mobile application developer

Taken from:

http://www.cio.com/article/695585/6_Hot_IT_Jobs_That_Will_Pay_Well_in_2012?source=CIONLE_nlt_insider_2012-01-02

From the article:

"T professionals who can develop applications for mobile devices are hands down the hottest commodity in IT these days. IT staffing experts agree that this group will remain in this enviable position through 2012, as companies race to adapt their Websites and apps for smartphones and tablets."

In this article: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/02/smartphone-growth-in-the-u-s-nothing-but-blue-sky-ahead/ - it says that in the last twelve months (July 2010 to June 2011), Android phones grew by 25 million and iPhones by 9.5 million (and ... probably more in the last six months). The demand for smartphones continued to grow - and the demand for company apps, specialized apps, game apps, news apps, etc. is great!!! The main article indicated that some developers make from $70 to $100 an hour (or ... from $140,000 to $200,000 a year!!).

Exciting times for IT smartphone developers!!!