The Million Dollar Opportunity!!!

Taken from:

http://www.information-management.com/news/the-million-dollar-opportunity-reaping-returns-from-analytics-10024977-1.html?ET=informationmgmt:e9461:1985081a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IM_Daily_101813

The article starts with this paragraph:

As long ago as 2008, the Royal Shakespeare Company in the U.K. saw a 50 percent increase in ticket sales at one of its theaters – following an investment in an analytics program that helped it identify specific audience segments for targeted marketing campaigns.

The article (of course) is on Business Intelligence - and it is a growing business.  Many universities (including the University of Texas-Austin and Quinnipiac University) have recently added business intelligence / business analytics master's programs. 

With abundant data, and the right software, one can start to analyze relationships - is there a relationship between (say) age of the mother and autism?  Or with diet of the mother and autism?  Or with genetics and autism? Or with the mother having flu while she was pregnant and autism? Or the amount of carbonated beverages that mother drinks and autism? - OR ... so many other factors that could be investigated.  

As a parallel, the Irish potato famine was caused by an airborne pathogen - that could have been solved with small doses of trace minerals - but ... the data and relationship between the disease and certain minerals was not able to be studied.  With business intelligence, the data could be analyzed and the problem solved early on!!!

So, business intelligence / data analytics is here to stay and WILL be a game-changer for many problems!!!

Biking technology coming to US

Taken from

http://www.cio.com/article/741549/Velocomputer_Measures_Bike_Rides_with_Impressive_Accuracy?taxonomyId=600007

There are a lot of technology gadgets for exercise - Nike has a chip for running; various devices are available to monitor heart rate and effort.  

Now VeloComputer has a device that can measure distance down to the centimeter, plus the inclination of the road, the energy expended and more.  The device interfaces to Android smartphones and interfaces to standard packages like Training Peaks, Strava, Garmin Connect and others.

The price for the basis model is estimated at $79 - and should be a great way to keep track of your workout!!

Apple to announce new products

Taken from: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/apple-likely-unveil-lot-tuesday-probably-no-october-surprise-8C11428866

Over the years, Apple has had major public announcements.  In the past, Apple announced new phones, tablets, and more.

This time around, Apple seems to have updates (but not anything earth shaking).

Items being discussed include:

• New iPad
• New iPad mini - with a better display
• Keeping the old iPad Mini - at a cheapter price - to compete against cheaper tablets
• New iMacPro - made in the USA
• New software for the iMacPro - maps and iBooks

The October announcements tend to fuel the Christmas shopping season - so ... we'll have to see (a) what exactly Apple announces; and (b) how that impacts the shopping season!!!

Rhinos to get Microchips

Taken from:  

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/18/21019720-rhinos-to-get-microchips-in-horns-as-kenya-fights-poachers?lite

We have talked about RFID chips - now the rhinos are getting chipped!!!  Poaching has been a big problem for rhinos and elephants (their tusks sell for big dollars on the black market).  It this can stop (or lessening) the poaching problem, then it has been a success.  

Google Stock Prices soar

Taken from: 

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/google-stock-surges-tops-1-000-share-8C11418694

The article notes:

Google shares jumped to an all-time high above $1,000 on Friday after the search engine giant reported a surge in mobile and video advertising that helped drive quarterly revenue up 23 percent. 

While most of us are familiar with the Google of free searches, obviously they have to make money somehow - in order to fund such things as Google Glasses, Google's self driving car, Google Maps, all the servers and electricity to run those servers.  As a big consumer of Google's products, I think it is great that their stock (and their services) are doing quite well!!!

The unsung women of technology

Taken from: http://www.computerworld.com/slideshow/detail/123864/The-unsung-women-of-technology

say something profound.

Apple will struggle to find new buyers for iPhone

Taken from: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425582,00.asp

The article suggests that most iPhone sales in the future will come from replacements / upgrades rather than new purchases.

The article noted:

An interesting new report from Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi suggests that Apple might be on the cusp of seeing a drop in new iPhone buyers.

The news doesn't suggest a drop in the popularity of the iPhone. Rather, many people already have one, so Apple will soon be selling more devices to upgraders rather than new iPhone customers. According to Sacconaghi, the percentage of "net new iPhone customers" is set to shrink approximately 13 percent between 2012 and 2013, dropping from 62 percent to just around 54 percent.

Going forward, those numbers will drop to 37 percent in 2014 and a mere 28 percent in 2015. Concurrently, iPhone "replacement" purchases will jump up to nearly 3/4 of everything Apple's selling by 2015.

We talked about switching power.  My guess is that the great majority of the population has smart phones.  But, Android phone users would have to learn a new environment if they switched to the iPhone; and (likewise) iPhone users would have to learn a new environment if they switched to a different type phone.  And ... is the competition over for Blackberry, Microsoft Windows Phones and others?  

Microsoft to ship Windows 7 soon?

Taken from: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9243188/Microsoft_ships_tool_to_block_IE11_on_Windows_7

As Microsoft releases new Windows software, it frequently blocks automatic updates to Internet Explorer:

The article notes:

The toolkit blocks automatic upgrading of older editions of Internet Explorer to IE11 on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 through the operating systems' built-in Automatic Update service. Companies that rely on Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or System Center 2012 do not need the toolkit since they can manage the deployment of IE11 using those tools.

Individuals can also use the toolkit to keep IE11 off their Windows machines without disabling Automatic Updates for all other Microsoft software.

This generally relates more to corporate subscribers - to keep older (solid) versions of Internet Explorer while updating the rest of the software.

Meanwhile, for personal computers, Windows 8 is available - for PC's and for mobile devices.  It enables touch screen computing (like iPhone and others)

Windows 8 was released to mixed reception. Although reaction towards its performance improvements, security enhancements, and improved support for touchscreen devices was positive, the new user interface of the operating system was widely criticized for being potentially confusing and difficult to learn (especially when used with a keyboard and mouse instead of a touchscreen). Despite these shortcomings, 60 million Windows 8 licenses have been sold through January 2013, a number which included both upgrades and sales to OEMs for new PCs.^[5]

To survive all companies have to innovate, change, adapt to the current marketplace (something Dell failed to do).  With these upgrades, Microsoft indicates it is STILL a viable and solid company in the computing field.