Self Reassembling Robot

This is very cool but also very scary when you think through the possibilities.

Dell Can't Catch A Break

Dell doesn't seem to be able to catch a break so far this year. In the first bit of bad news, they were ordered to pay $1.5 million in a class action suit involving poor customer service. This suit was filed by the attorney generals of 46 different states. Hey, I always knew that Dell customer service was bad at best but wow.

The second bit of bad news was a slap in the face from none other than Vladimir Putin. At the official opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, Putin gave a 40 minute speak then opened the floor to questions. The first question from from Michael Dell. Mr. Dell asked "How can we help" you to expand IT in Russia. Mr. Putin's rely - "We don't need help. We are not invalids. We don't have limited mental capacity." It would seem that the Russian's are also aware of Dell's customer service problems.

Robots Invade Warehouses

Zappos, the large on-line shoe retailer, is now using robots built by Kiva systems to handle their order processing. Zappos claims that the elapsed time from order inception to placing the order on the truck for shipping is now 12 minutes. This represents a paradigm shift in distribution!

Gmail Goes Offline

Many of us have been waiting for this for a long time. Gmail is now available offline. Using a Google Gears download, your computer will automatically sync with the Google servers when you are on-line, and store your Gmail on your hard drive when you are offline.

The cloud is certainly maturing!

Who Needs Spys Anymore?

Who needs spy's anymore when incompetent people let secrets into the wild on electronic devices. You may remember my blog post about a guy that bought a digital camera full of MI6 secrets on eBay. Yesterday a 29 year old named Chris Ogle connected an MP3 player that he bought at a thrift store to his computer. What he found were 60 files of US Army secrets. The government is ignoring this little security breach.

The worst part of this for Mr. Ogle is that the MP3 player will no longer play music.

Is The G-Drive Finally Here?

It has long been rumored that Google plans to offer a service which would allow users to store all of their data in the cloud. This long rumored GDrive may soon be a reality according to an article in the Guardian. This is certainly an exciting paradigm shift in data storage.

Not everyone is excited about this. There are those that feel that a GDrive would pose a security risk. On the other hand, if the data were in the cloud and not on an insecure laptop, security actually increases.

My only real concern is data backups. What happens is one of your documents in the cloud goes missing. My advise to people is to never have only one copy of your data.

The Apple Macintosh is 25 Years Old

It was 25 years ago that the famous Super Bowl ad appeared that introduced the Apple Macintosh. It was directed by Ridley Scott one year after he released Blade Runner. Time certainly flies

Subwoofer Cat

Who knew that kitties loved subwoofers. He seems to be enjoying himself.

Lost in Space Robot Dies

The robot from the hit TV show ' Lost in Space' was a favorite of many. Bob May, the man who was inside the robot suit died today at the age of 69.

Leaving Hawaii

It is that time of year again where the HICSS conference comes to a close and we return to Cincinnati to a balmy 18 degree with snow on the ground. The conference was attended by 800 people this year. Given the current economy, that is a great turnout. Next year the conference is in Kauai. We have not been there for a few years. A change of scenery will be nice.

Off to the airport for a 20 hour trip.

The Weather Turns Amazing

The weather here cleared up nicely. It is a balmy 80 degrees today. It is hard to believe that it is snowing back home. This is the last day of the HICSS conference and we will be headed home tomorrow. Emily is sitting on the patio watching whales and I am off to the conference.

Feral Feline Advocates in Waikoloa

The feral feline population in Hawaii is very large. The feral feline advocate community is very large and seems to do a great job with their spay/neuter efforts.

The locals love the kitties and feed them often. The photo of the kitty above was taken at our hotel outdoor restaurant. He is relaxing after a great lunch. At dinner tonight I bought a bunch of feral kitties a pizza from Cafe Pesto. They were so tame that they were talking to me about how excited they were about a hot pizza.

Photography Opportunities are Everywhere

People tell me all the time that it is easy to take great photos when you travel to great locations. Some of the best photos are close to home. It is really a matter of vision. No camera in the world can capture what you can't see without the camera.

This photo is of flowers right outside my hotel room in Waikoloa.

Ironman

Emily and I ran across this sign when we were in Kona last evening for dinner. It is the starting point for the swimming event of the annual Ironman competition. This place is impossible to get around when all of the competitors and media are here.

Manta Ray Night Dive in Kona

Emily and I went on a Manta Ray night dive this evening. It was amazing. The video is something to behold in many ways. Perhaps some of the best footage that I have ever seen

On the down side, I thought that I got bent. I had the Divers Alert Network (DAN) on the phone for 30 minutes discussing the situation. I felt sorry for the DAN M.D. as it was 3:00AM his time. DAN is worth their weight in gold!

Update: The DAN physician called me this morning and insisted that I see a local MD today for further tests. I suppose that he thought through my situation further. The great thing about Hawaii is there are several physicians that specialize in dive medicine. The fear was that I had popped a lung. The x-rays came back negative for Pneumothorax. That was a relief.

A Beautiful Day in Hawaii

Today was really the first day that the sun was out for most of the day here in Hawaii. The locals tell me that it has been raining a great deal here lately. That is unusual for the this side of the Big Island. Any way you slice it, it is still warmer than Cincinnati :-)

Happy New Year from The Big Island

Emily and I arrived in Kona today for the annual HICSS conference. The conference represents a culmination of about 10 months worth of work leading up to my session.

While I am in meetings all day, Emily will be studying for the next part of the CPA exam sitting by the ocean. I get out each evening around 5:00pm, just in time for the sunset. The sunsets here are hard to beat.

The Big Island is like no other. If you have never been here it is like being on the surface of the moon. The entire island is basically made up of lava rock.