Monthly Archives: February 2008

Making the Virtual Actual

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What’s the future look like? Imagine you have more artistic talent than I do (that’s pretty much anyone reading this). Now imagine you recently bought an apartment. Finally, imagine you want to furnish that apartment in a very special and unique way. Now watch this.

I don’t know about you, but that video is one of the most impressive displays of technology I’ve seen in some time. I was impressed simply at the ability to be able to sketch a piece of furniture as they did, but then the virtual became actual. I didn’t see that coming. Impressive indeed.

Part of the creative team is a Swedish company called Front. After the U.S., I’ll put the Swedes up against just about anyone when it comes to technological innovation, and especially design.

Here’s more info about how Sketch Furniture came to be.

Laterz.

Patience Pays Off ;)

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Imagine you were one of the folks who bought a brand new MacBook Air when it first came out. You couldn’t resist its slim design, and that need to be cutting edge. And then today you go the Apple Store site see both this and this.

OUCH!

Sometimes it pays to be a little patient.

To all of you out there who’ve been waiting for a good reason to switch, here are yet two more good reasons. Just a thought. ;)

Harlem’s Back After A Great Reason for Being Away

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After a bit of a break, I’m back. I’m VERY happy to say that I’ve been away due to my wife giving birth to our lovely daughter Esmeralda Valentina. She was, surprise-surprise, born on Valentine’s Day. Thanks to Swedish law, I’m in the midst of the 10-days off I’m permitted. It’s wonderful and then some. Both my wife and Esme are asleep next to me on the couch as I’m typing this. Life is good (thank you Lord!). :D But I do actually have something technical to write about today!

I received a very interesting tip from a Norwegian viking who keeps an eye on things IT security related. It has to do with Dynamic Access Random Memory (DRAM) [NOTE: Before I go any further, let me confess I too was guilty of such a belief before the Viking's tip].

It appears the clever folks at the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton have discovered a way not only to access the information that remains on a computer’s DRAM, but also to delay the fading of the memory, and, of course, to possibly use some of the information from the DRAM to break the encryption on the hard disk. Click here to see for yourself just how easy things can be for people who know what to do.

While I’m fascinated in the techno-geek sense, I can’t say I’m surprised. I believe there will always be someone out there making discoveries like these, and quite frankly I’m glad. That’s how we got to where we are technologically today. Some would call it progress. Nevertheless, I’m not at all saying we should not address such discoveries in a cautious, security-minded sense either. Quite the opposite, and I’m speaking from experience. After all I work for a large organization that has arguably some of the worst security awareness practices I’ve ever experienced in my professional life (and I’ve worked in other large organizations that were on the opposite end of the spectrum in being arguably the best in the world at IT security). I’m not exaggerating here, though I so wish I was. Don’t get me wrong! It’s not for lack of trying on the side of the folks in charge of IT security. No, no, no. They’re trying pretty hard, but they’re swimming against a tsunami of a lax-about-security-tide in a culture of folks accustomed to getting their way so much that they’re, in my humble opinion, a danger to the very network they use. Further evidence of this culture would be where the position of the CIO is in the organization. It’s not even in the top three tiers of the executive level. Are you feeling my pain, folks?

Okay. Enough griping!

WOW! I just looked at my newborn little girl sleeping in her cherub-like pose, and life suddenly got 100% better! All I did was look at her! I love that. (Thanks God! :) )

Long story short, progress is going to happen even when you have some who don’t want to move along with it. Also, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t teach them to respect IT security. (lol)

Laterz.

Mac OS X 10.5.2 Is On the Street

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Yep. Like the subject line says, Mac OS X 10.5.2 is on the street, and it’s chock full of updated goodness for. Some of the things I found interesting were the changes for Airport, Dashboard, Finder, Mail, and Time Machine among others. I was extra delighted at what I saw for Time Machine.

Click here to see for yourself.

A Rival for the Wii?

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By now, most readers of this blog know what the Nintendo Wii is. I think it’s safe to say that this particular gaming console has revolutionized gaming, and has catapulted the gaming industry in directions only imagined before. In an industry such as this, it was only a matter of time before some competition came along.

Enter the Motus Darwin game controller (retail $79-$99 US).

On its Motus Games page, the Motus Corporation is touting its product as the “natural evolution of the Wii…” As cleverly crafted as those words are, they combine for quite an interesting shot across the bow of Nintendo. But maybe that’s what Motus company chairman Satayan Mahajan wants. After all, he’s the same gentleman who in an interview with MIT’s Technology Review claims, “The Wii is a great device. But they’re going from very simple applications, and trying to become more complex and capture more complex motion. We’ve gone from this very complex [process of] capturing very precise motions of the human body to something that’s actually less complex.” He’s diplomatic. I’ll give him that.

All that considered, it will be interesting to see just how well this competitor to the Wii does. While the technology of measuring “absolute position with respect to earth itself” and “using gyroscopes and accelerometers” so “the controller orients itself to the magnetic north, and senses the direction it is pointing” is more than intriguing to IT geeks like myself, I can’t see the average Joe/Jane reading that on a box and getting too excited about it. And even though I commend the increased speed and accuracy, I can’t help but wonder, “Nice technological feat, but why?”

If you’re a golfer who takes the game very seriously then this is the product for you. Of course, if you’re that serious in the first place, then odds are you’ve already heard about this product. For me, despite my being a fan of most things IT, I see it as a niche product that would equate to my buying a shotgun instead of a fly-swatter to kill a mosquito. Nevertheless, my hopes are that the competition will drive the price of Wii consoles down even further for the average consumer. ;)

Laterz.