http://www.slate.com/id/2189902/
I found an interesting article related chapter 16 about “data supermarkets”. According to security experts at an InfoSecurity conference, a wide range of credit card and bank account numbers are for sale on the black market. The costs range wildly depending on the information. Bank accounts with personal data can sell for a few hundred dollars where a simple unvalidated credit card number could go for one dollar each. Some numbers come pre tested with small charges already made to see if the owner would even notice the charge and some come with full identities including passwords social security numbers and addresses. The main lesson from this article is that you need to do more than using computer protection to thwart identity theft. Identities and card numbers are stolen from major companies like TJ Maxx and Wal-Mart or from dishonest clerks leaving you to take charge and be aware of every charge posted to every account.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=104312
I found an article in Computer World on line magazine related to chapter 14 titled The High Cost of IT Complexity. The article stressed that it is important to keep IT costs in check especially when it comes to customization and complexity. Many companies have requests to customize IT software from individual departments but studies show you need to avoid that option where possible to keep IT costs in line. Examples were give where after reviewing 250 companies these that were considered low in complexity with respect to IT spent 15% less that those with complex IT applications and operated with 36% fewer staffers.
I found an article in Computer World on line magazine related to chapter 14 titled The High Cost of IT Complexity. The article stressed that it is important to keep IT costs in check especially when it comes to customization and complexity. Many companies have requests to customize IT software from individual departments but studies show you need to avoid that option where possible to keep IT costs in line. Examples were give where after reviewing 250 companies these that were considered low in complexity with respect to IT spent 15% less that those with complex IT applications and operated with 36% fewer staffers.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Article for Chapter 13
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_34/b3998423.htm
This Article from Business Week covers many aspects of competitive advantage and who to increase or keep one, it relates to chapter 13 in several areas. In the third paragraph in the “Experiment Fearlessly” section the author writes about how the internet is “busting the boundaries of many businesses”. It talks about how eBay is entering the telecommunications industry offering free phone call using VOIP and that Google is challenging Microsoft and other examples of how technology is opening markets to other new players who use technology in a new and different approach to solve old problems.
This Article from Business Week covers many aspects of competitive advantage and who to increase or keep one, it relates to chapter 13 in several areas. In the third paragraph in the “Experiment Fearlessly” section the author writes about how the internet is “busting the boundaries of many businesses”. It talks about how eBay is entering the telecommunications industry offering free phone call using VOIP and that Google is challenging Microsoft and other examples of how technology is opening markets to other new players who use technology in a new and different approach to solve old problems.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2008_Nov_24/ai_n31028556/
This article is about how SAS can really be used to help businesses in this time of economic downturn. SAS has leading edge analysis software that can crunch data that other software can not. If large amounts of data need to be analyzed in near real time SAS can do the job. We use SAS at CommScope as we crunch test data from individual reels of cable as they come off production. This data is very large as many thousands of points are displayed using vector analysis across wide frequency bands from 5 MHz to 3 GHz. The amount of data points in one shift are astounding but SAS is one of the only software applications that can handle it. SAS is one tool that many people do not know about that should be in their arsenal.
This article is about how SAS can really be used to help businesses in this time of economic downturn. SAS has leading edge analysis software that can crunch data that other software can not. If large amounts of data need to be analyzed in near real time SAS can do the job. We use SAS at CommScope as we crunch test data from individual reels of cable as they come off production. This data is very large as many thousands of points are displayed using vector analysis across wide frequency bands from 5 MHz to 3 GHz. The amount of data points in one shift are astounding but SAS is one of the only software applications that can handle it. SAS is one tool that many people do not know about that should be in their arsenal.
Second Life
My foray into Second Life was very interesting and somewhat enjoyable. Once I logged on I realized that it would take some getting used to before I could do simple tasks like walk as if I had a brain and sit down in a chair. Flying was an advantage but I never did get the altitude issue resolved completely. I made at least 20 stops in different locations but found it difficult to find where most of the people were. According to the search there would be thousands of active visitors but I could only find a few. Conversations or research proved not easy for me for several reasons. One was that people were not too friendly and second it was just awkward to walk up to a stranger and start talking. I took a snapshot of Maui. And of New York's Empire State Building. 
I flew to the top of the hill to get a shot of the rainbow overlooking the dance hall. I spoke to several people there and they were real nice and polite but not interested in talking with me. There were whales off shore and dolphins that came right out of the water. Next I like Paris and had a few conversations but those were all short as well. There were some people just standing there by themselves all dressed up but did not communicate when engaged. No one was rude or mean just not too interested. I couldn't get the snapshot I wanted from Paris (flying altitude issues again) I decided on a snapshot of the Empire State Building in NY. The people there in Central Park were very nice also with so many greetings I could not properly respond to all of them but I excused myself for being clumsy and several people helped me understand the system a little. No great conversations there either.
I flew to the top of the hill to get a shot of the rainbow overlooking the dance hall. I spoke to several people there and they were real nice and polite but not interested in talking with me. There were whales off shore and dolphins that came right out of the water. Next I like Paris and had a few conversations but those were all short as well. There were some people just standing there by themselves all dressed up but did not communicate when engaged. No one was rude or mean just not too interested. I couldn't get the snapshot I wanted from Paris (flying altitude issues again) I decided on a snapshot of the Empire State Building in NY. The people there in Central Park were very nice also with so many greetings I could not properly respond to all of them but I excused myself for being clumsy and several people helped me understand the system a little. No great conversations there either.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Chapter Article 3/24
I had a little difficulty finding a fresh article with application so I settled on a good primmer.
http://www.business-marketing.com/store/abknowledge.html
The article was about Knowledge Management and was written by Sheila Campbell, a business consultant that I found posted on a web site titled business-marketing.com. I found this article interesting as it helped me better understand the concept using clear definitions with short questions and answers. For example, “How do you create a Knowledge Management System?” The answer was “you first need to answer the question, why would you create and knowledge information system?”
It boiled down to, you need to deliver good information and data to your employees to enable them to be effective at their jobs and with the large amounts of data companies typically generate you need a system to make any sense out of it. The best sentence that said it all was, “Information is meaningless unless it can be organized and retrieved in a timely manner and for that you definitely need some sort of system. Then it gave a short case study of a consulting firm that was helped by implementing a knowledge management system to empower its employees that were often on the road. One other part of the problem was that there was turnover and when employees left their knowledge left with them. It was difficult at first to get their employees to pool their knowledge and share their talents but it takes vision and leadership from the top down to develop and implement a working knowledge management system.
http://www.business-marketing.com/store/abknowledge.html
The article was about Knowledge Management and was written by Sheila Campbell, a business consultant that I found posted on a web site titled business-marketing.com. I found this article interesting as it helped me better understand the concept using clear definitions with short questions and answers. For example, “How do you create a Knowledge Management System?” The answer was “you first need to answer the question, why would you create and knowledge information system?”
It boiled down to, you need to deliver good information and data to your employees to enable them to be effective at their jobs and with the large amounts of data companies typically generate you need a system to make any sense out of it. The best sentence that said it all was, “Information is meaningless unless it can be organized and retrieved in a timely manner and for that you definitely need some sort of system. Then it gave a short case study of a consulting firm that was helped by implementing a knowledge management system to empower its employees that were often on the road. One other part of the problem was that there was turnover and when employees left their knowledge left with them. It was difficult at first to get their employees to pool their knowledge and share their talents but it takes vision and leadership from the top down to develop and implement a working knowledge management system.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
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