My Reading Highlights: 9/23/12 to 9/29/12

This weeks reading spanned big data to the American economy to how to handle email overload.   Oh and by the way, I added a great video on ping pong balls.  It's worth a watch.  Enjoy.

How "Big-Data-as-a-Service" Can Help Smaller Companies Compete

Great read from Brian Profitt in discussing the notion of a service model to providing analytics of Big Data to companies who cannot or should not invest in heavy IT infrastructure.   He offered up a great quote that sums up where we are all heading with analytics:

"Every time we perform a search, tweet, send an email, post a blog, comment on one, use a cell phone, shop online, update our profile on a social networking site, use a credit card, or even go to the gym, we leave behind a mountain of data, a digital footprint, that provides a treasure trove of information about our lifestyles, financial activities, health habits, social interactions, and much more," wrote former Tivoli CEO Frank Moss

IBM Readies “Project Sparta” Aimed at Simplifying Big Data

Looks like AllThingsD is reporting that IBM has an Oct 9th event planned to launch its new big data line and go head to head with Oracle.  I'm missing Oracle Open World this year but I'm sure the Oracle will announce improvements to their new Exadata line.

Treasure Data Launches Cloud-Based Data Warehouse With Investment From Ruby Creator Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto

Moving from IBM to Oracle, TechCrunch provides an overview of Treasure Data.  A cloud data warehouse environment that keeps users from making heavy capital investments in infrastructure.

Graph Databases: The New Way to Access Super Fast Social Data

Emil Eifrem provides an interesting discussion on the uses and benefits of Graph Databases.   As he puts it, "Graph databases, unlike their NOSQL and relational brethren, are designed for lightning-fast access to complex data found in social networks, recommendation engines and networked systems."  The article is worth a read and provides another approach beyond traditional relational databases.

Here's The Biggest Problem In The American Economy

Here is another interesting read from Henry Blodget on the problems with the American economy. He asserts new markets with cheaper labor, increased use of technology in production allowing companies to much more with fewer employees, tax policies, and a complete focus on shareholder value as the primary cause of the stagnant employment rate.

Liquid Nitrogen and 1500 Ping Pong Balls Video

I came across this YouTube video the other day.  It shows what happens when you mix liquid nitrogen in a bottle with 1500 ping pong balls.  I know but watch.  It is pretty cool.

How to Email Busy People

I learned a new acronym this week: TLTR = To Long To Read. This article was was very appropriately timed for this new bit of knowledge I just acquired. I'm not as bad as the guys they are talking about in this article; I'll receive on average 300+ emails a day. That said it is way too much to give each of them the attention the sender expects. The tips here are right on point. Get the subject line right on point and keep the body to 3 sentences max.

Software Development Overruns

Michael Sampson writes "Software development projects have a long history of running over schedule and budget. Recent research by Evans Data estimates that 49% of such projects run over schedule; an IBM survey of CIOs puts the percentage at 62%. 


Research by IBM suggests that two of the root causes are poor communications among developers, especially when they're geographically distributed, and an unclear understanding of the business domain they're contributing toward." via the BrainYard.

Certainly these are key factors, but I would suggest the desire to get a project sold with a revenue stream coming in is also a key factor. Here the desire to give a client a feeling they are getting something at a price point they can live with that includes features they really need. 


This is a key reason these projects are late and overrun; unrealistic expectations on what it takes to get the project completed. This is done on the client side and the business development side, sometimes without involving the developer community at all in the decision space.

Source Via:  http://currents.michaelsampson.net/2011/10/sd.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+michaelsampson+(Michael+Sampson:+Currents)