Have recently come across two interesting graphical bio services:
Vizify
The service has a smooth interface reflective of a storyboard. It, however, doesn’t add much punch to your résumé.
Sumari
Unlike Vizify, Sumari is center-focused on highlighting the achievements of the candidate – in terms of numbers, graphs, charts, etc.
You can check out my CVs on the two services to compare for your self:
Gizmodo has published an article, “China’s Internet Architecture Gives the Rest of Us a Run for Our Money“.
It praises the technological superiority of China’s internet architecture as compared to that of the US.
It quotes a study that highlights two key points:
I have two main issues with the article.
The article is based on a (recently declassified) 2008 study compiled by New England Complex Systems Institute.
This is hopelessly outdated for the topic covered – the internet.
For example, mobile & 4G were not as prevalent then as they are now.
Obviously, these developments have had an impact on the underlying architecture and vice versa.
I doubt if the study accounts for these developments.
A couple of readers have contradicted the claims made by the report
They have highlighted the following problems:
These are, indeed, serious problems from the viewpoint of end users.
More generally, China is not renowned as a country with fast internet.
In fact, China ranked at no. 123 as compared to no. 14 for the US! (source: “Top 10: Where to Find the World’s Fastest Internet“, dated 23 January, 2013).
As regards the two salient features of China’s internet infrastructure:
The above critique is not to say that China’s infrastructure is inferior or that there is nothing wrong with the US infrastructure.
What I want to highlight is that these are not really “apple-to-apple” comparisons.
Therefore, the conclusions derived from them are also not likely to be accurate.
In the end, the customer experience is the most important factor in deciding whether a service is good or not.
Came across two very interesting articles on innovation & thought that you might benefit from them…
How two volunteers built the Raspberry Pi’s operating system
This is the story of 2 volunteers who rebuilt 19,000 packages (~50%) of Debian’s Wheezy build so that their version of the OS, Raspbian, can take advantage of the ARMv6 floating-point unit on Raspberry Pi!
Raspbian OS is the recommended OS for Raspberry Pi, a testament to the innovation delivered by 2 people with a passion to do something.
The cost of this labor-of-love? $3,000 initially!
Clarification: The costs have increased later to account for distribution, hosting, compensation etc.
Swimming with spacemen: training for spacewalks at NASA’s giant pool
On the other end of the scale, is the world’s largest indoor body of water holding 6.2 million gallons of water!
NASA uses this humongous swimming pool, technically known as the NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory), to train astronauts for spacewalk missions during their stint on the ISS (International Space Station).
Like most of the things associated with NASA, everything about this facility is enormously big, including expenses incurred to build & maintain the facility!
However, the money can be considered well spent considering that all the ISS missions have been successful with zero accidents.
The whole article is a must read for anybody interested in space exploration and suitably highlights the critical role played by everybody involved, not just the astronauts.
The anti-capitalistic sentiments continue to find more supporters since the unraveling of the financial markets in 2007.
Like a tsunami, the rage (against MNCs & their executives) is picking up energy as it spreads to more countries, more people.
The latest to join are the Swiss, almost 70% of whom voted last Sunday to curb executive pay and other excesses.
This development is significant.
Swiss became the global market leader in private banking most due to these two factors – they never really probed the source of the money, or tried to question the background of their clients. [Read an year-old article that will sound relevant even today!]
What gives?
Arguably, the key reason for the changed mood of people is the lavish bonuses awarded to bankers even as their employers had to be doled out by the people.
Thus, there is a self-righteous indignation against the banking sector.
Interestingly, people have since then begun focusing on other sectors of the economy as well.
All capital-intensive industries (pharma, auto, etc.) have come in the cross-hairs of the “compensation crusaders”.
Why so?
The current kerfuffle seems to be moving into an “us vs. them” situation.
The “blue-collar” group is blaming the “white-collar” class for the hardships that they have had to suffer due to the latter.
It holds globalization responsible for suppressing their wages & losing their jobs to the developing countries.
It accuses the latter of “heads I win, tails you lose” approach in determining performance-based compensation.
It also accuses the latter of buying political influence through money.
The “white-collar” camp, in its defense, blames the price sensitivity of the former to keep looking for lowest-cost manufacturers of products & services.
It justifies its pay & compensation as being “market driven”.
It even demands to relax the immigration criteria to compensate for the rapidly declining knowledge & skills of the former.
What next?
The views highlighted before are similar to those prevalent in the late 19th century when Karl Marx released Das Kapital.
That seminal book is widely credited with the start of the labor movement and its later expansion into socialism.
Therefore, it is easy to think of am emerging class war.
However, there are significant differences between then & now.
First & foremost, capitalism is fully adopted in most countries, even by the protesters.
The majority of protesters are not anti-money but anti-decadence.
Second, the history of socialist economies is enough of a warning to again consider going down that route.
Third & most importantly, the captains & executives of the industries are changing their behavior, voluntarily or after being “guided” by their Governments.
One thing all the stakeholder have to agree is this – we are all in it together!
Universe has always fascinated humans!
We all have wondered about the mysteries of the Universe – how big is it, why it is what it is, are we alone, is there a God, etc.!
Enjoy the delightful video about the size of the Universe by the excellent team of MinutePhysics…
Co.CREATE reports on the VFX protests that accompanied last Sunday’s Academy Awards function.
The reason for protests? The relentless downward budgetary pressures on VFX (visual effects) budgets that have (most recently) led to Rhythm & Hues filing for bankruptcy.
R&H are the visual artists behind Life of Pi, which won the Best Visual Effects Oscar this year.
The artistic poetry of the movie has mesmerized all those who have seen the movie.
It is therefore very sad & depressing to learn that the bankruptcy was (mostly) caused by shrinking budgets & outsourcing / offshoring of work to low-cost locations.
Ironically, the same pressures are also leading to significant job losses in the other sectors of the economy, including the banking industry.
It is a downward spiral that will engulf more & more countries:
It seems that everything is becoming commoditized in the global economy – first manufacturing, next services, and now, arts!
There are complex reasons behind this downward spiral; I will discuss them in a future article.
For now, let us wish that Rhythm & Hues will soon emerge from the bankruptcy and continue to make magic!
Ann Marie Lipinski has written a very thoughtful article on the recent deaths of Eugene Patterson & Aaron Swartz.
She talks about the three ways in which these kindred spirits challenged the society.
Journalistic Courage
Ann writes about how, as a newspaper editor, Eugene fought for moral causes like anti-segregation, Vietnam war, etc.
These acts of journalistic courage helped newspapers gain a leadership as the moral compass of the society.
Aaron, likewise, displayed the same courage when he founded Demand Progress and successfully lobbied against the Stop Online Piracy Act.
Access to knowledge
In his own days, Eugene copied & published the classified Pentagon Papers (about Vietnam war) in 1971.
Eugene’s reason for doing so? Civil disobedience.
37 years later, Aaron used the same logic against copyright law in his “Guerilla Open Access Manifesto”!
He then proceeded to download the JSTOR material and planned to post it online to make it available for all.
The way in which we nurture a generation’s clarion voices
People like Eugene & Aaron act as a society’s moral compass.
Their acts of civil disobedience are guided by public service mission and integrity (they don’t profit from these acts)
Such crusaders lead by example and inspire future generations.
Unfortunately, they are often persecuted by the authorities.
My perspective
Modern society is in transition to “knowledge economy” where knowledge is a critical resource for the organizations.
Therefore, they spend ever more efforts to protect this prized resource.
This paranoia permeates all sections of the society; even children are taught not to share their homework with their classmates!
In such a scenario, anybody who passionately advocates & selflessly acts for unrestricted access to information will likely be branded a thief.
Instead of punishing such individuals, society should cherish them as necessary checks-&-balances in the system.
We will do well to remember that Thomas Jefferson had rightly said,
“I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.”