State of Technology #40

 #at_other_places –

• Mayor Bloomberg learns to code
• When running on treadmill, do you want to pass by Mayan Ruins, Roman Coliseum or San Francisco sunset? There is an app for that.

#architecture – *** ‘Everything I Ever Learned about JVM Performance Tuning @Twitter’ – is a brilliant presentation with very useful tips with equal focus on both young and old generation tuning.

#code – How would you write the ‘damn cool algorithm’ of ‘Fountain Codes’?

‘A fountain code is a way to take some data – a file, for example – and transform it into an effectively unlimited number of encoded chunks, such that you can reassemble the original file given any subset of those chunks, as long as you have a little more than the size of the original file.’

#design – 14 of the Best Ideas in Interface design (2011)

#essay – IBM 5-in-5 – Five Innovation forecasts that ‘will alter the landscape in 5 years’ –

1. People power is live
2. No need for any more password
3. Mind reading is doable
4. ZERO digital divide
5. Junk mail is the new priority mail

#mobile – Do you know more than 3 out of 10 most popular Mobile websites (for Nov, 2011)? It may surprise you.
#saas – Be careful – QR code is fast becoming the new malware entry point

 

#social – Crowdsourcing is in effect to find out which bars serve adulterated drinks in Spain — ‘a site that aims to let consumers call out the ones serving drinks made from adulterated or unauthentic ingredients.’

 

#tool – 1PasswordPro was voted best iPad Utility App for 2011, and it is rock solid useful

#tweaks n’ hacks – You’ve got Smell – Olly is a Web Connected Smelly Robot that converts notifications into smell.

#etc 

• Perhaps a good way to motivate people to save more for retirement – spend a day in a ‘feel like 75 year old suit’ built by MIT
• Cold, and cannot use the touch-screen since you wear gloves? There’s a solution for that.

 

#parting_thought – On how much individual glorification really matters for big things, and success, like failure, could often be ‘naturally emergent’ phenomenon –
‘“When we hear that a raging forest fire has consumed millions of acres of forest, we don’t assume that there was anything special about the initial spark” – Duncan Watts