Change is Good
from Internet Evolution 9/8/2009
Worried about viruses? Concerned about unscheduled downtime or preparing for a lack of workers on your network?
This may sound like a pitch for a security software company, but in
essence it's what the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is
telling companies about the second wave of the H1N1 flu virus, or Swine
Flu.
Since April, the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have been working together to educate people about the ongoing 2009 influenza A (H1N1) outbreak. In addition to the regular channels, the CDC is offering computer widgets, mobile apps, YouTube videos, and other social-networking tools to reach new audiences.
Now, CDC CIO James Seligman has handed over a five-point checklist to help employers keep workers on the job and out of hospital emergency rooms. It's a straightforward list, but it occurred to me that the same five points can be used by CIOs in any sector to help protect their networks.
From Internet Evolution August, 31
Times are tough all over, and good
job leads can be hard to come by, which makes emails like the one I recently got all the more dispiriting, when it comes to how we get
hired on the Internet.
I was laid off earlier this year, so I know from recent experience that the job market in IT can be dryer than a bone in the desert. Especially hard hit are senior managers and executives who are having a hard time returning to the glory days of the late 1990s when growth seemed endless. And it doesn't help that current bailout poster boys like AIG CEO Robert Benmosche are giving executive perks a bad name. So much for that golden parachute on my next job.
Despite statistics that say guys like me get better job leads, staging a comeback during this recession has been a challenge.
But what struck me in the aforementioned email was the spammy nature of the job recruitment site:
This is Charles Harding, a family member of mine who sent a message along to his brothers and sisters back on June 6, 1909. I think he was on his way to a new city when he wrote to them.
My Aunt dug this photo up from her archives. Snappy dresser eh?
What's got two legs, six eyes, orange skin, purple spikes, and sits on your bookshelf? It's not a nightmare. It's a video game creature brought to life.
One of the more interesting ways to spend time on the
Internet is by playing simulator games like the Sims and Second Life. The
latest virtual world on the scene is Spore. Launched in September 2008, the
online game allows you to create your own life forms from singe-cell animals
and help them evolve up the food chain.
The game has gotten mixed reviews so far, but one thing that
sets this virtual universe apart from the others is that you can now take your
video game creature and have a realistic looking sculpture of it made for you
to keep.
Redwood City-based Electronic Arts, publishers of Spore the
online video game have teamed up with a specialty printing company called
Z-Corp to create 3-Dimensonal sculptures, called Spore Sculptures. Standing as
tall as 4-inches, the figurines are representations of a player's online
character. There are 40 million possible combinations, so having a
one-of-a-kind creature is not hard to do.
To create a Spore Sculpture, players design their creature
using the game's Spore Creature Creator. The creatures are assembled through a
myriad of drag-and-drop body parts in one of millions of configurations.
Players can then digitally paint their creatures with unique patterns. Just
like in the game, certain designs work better. A pair of sturdy legs and wide
body stance is preferred to oversized upper torsos and skinny legs. Intricate
features like single feathers and long antennae are also difficult to
reproduce.
Once the creatures are complete, players upload their
digital creations and place their order. The models retail for $49.50 apiece
and are shipped to the customer.
The Spore figurines are also notable for the latest
developments of 3D printing. Burlington, Mass.-based Z-Corp is one of a new
breed of digital printing companies that uses AutoCAD designs to push the
limits of 3D sculpture.
A 3D printer is an output device for 3D data in the same way
that a 2D printer is an output device for the words and pictures on a computer
screen. The primary difference is that a 3D printer produces 3D models and
prototypes in composite material. Z Corporation also makes the world’s first
handheld, self-orienting 3D scanners for ultra-accurate capture of 3D data.
The company's 3D scanner was recently featured in episodes
of "CSI: NY" and "CSI: Las Vegas."
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