IBM Moving Into Mobile Payments Using RFID

IBM has partnered with a Taiwanese firm to build an Expeditor-based framework for a "wallet phone" system. A sign of great things to come in mobile banking or as my friend Mister Falcon put it "The mark of the beast"?

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/cs/LMCM-7EPJYK?OpenDocument&Site=corp&cty=en_us#

...Microsoft would wake up and smell it's brand rotting.

The NY Times has a pretty good piece on the current state of affairs for MisterSoftee. They basically point out Microsoft's futility in it's attempt to maintain it's status as tech industry leader now that the PC era is waaaay back in the rearview mirror and we're smack-dab in the middle of the internet era. I think that they start to point out some obvious reasons for the inevitability of Microsoft's fall. If you consider this article along with all of the other evidence that has mounted in recent years, you begin to see a larger theme: Microsoft can't innovate. This is a company that essentially built it's breathtaking success upon some amazing business saavy and sheer corporate market brutality. They successfully leveraged some incredibly opportunistic deals and partnerships to hoist a commoditized computing experience upon a doe-eyed market that was still just super-psyched about being able to drag files into the trash. The problem we have for them now is that both the enterprise and the consumer PC markets aren't the impressionable, uninformed pushovers that they were in the 90's. People aren't just looking for a computing experience but they're looking for the best computing experience and they demand convenience. I'll write more on this later but I think you can guess where we're going with this. Anyway, enjoy the article.

I also wanted to point out for my fellow Lotus fans that the article uses the IBM + Lotus acquisition as an example to show how the merge and aquire strategy doesn't always pan out. Lotus was an exciting, innovative software company that has arguably rotted on the vine under IBM's wing.

...my company used Google's hosted enterprise apps.

Ed Brill has a piece discussing Microsoft's recent boast that it expects a very large number of it's current Exchange base to shift to a hosted Exchange service. Ed's rightfully taking issue with the fact that Microsoft seems so incredibly sure that they'll be welcoming throngs of disaffected IBM Lotus Domino users to the service. While he seems to almost dismiss cloud-based enterprise services, both Microsoft and IBM would be wise to eye Google's enterprise apps. If I were running a rather large enterprise right now...or even a smaller one, I'm about 99.9% certain that I would be paying $50/user to Google right now for Google apps in the cloud. Not only would we be getting a world-class browser-based email experience with POP and IMAP support but we'd be getting 24/7 support, super security and compliance via postini that includes archiving, encryption, content policy management, robust spam prevention, private versions of all of Google's apps, a robust standards-based calendaring service and much, much more.

Google Apps for the enterprise.

Google Enterprise App security

Lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. Mmmm.

Okay so I'm starting the "Lemonade Diet" today and figured that this would be a great place to go with all of my thoughts along the way. Just so you know, it's not a reduction diet but a "detox" or a cleanse. It's actually a variation of the Master Cleanse. I definitely don't need to do this to lose weight as I currently weight in at 177. This is more of an attempt to hit reset on the overall physiological state of my body and mind in hopes that I can start over again with modified eating habits. They say that if you can make it past day three, you'll feel amazing. I'll definitely let you know. I tried this once before and didn't get too far. I've developed quite the caffeine habit in recent years and several days into it had an extraordinary headache.

Okay so here's the skinny:

For at least 10 days, drink around 10 servings/day of the following:
2 Tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) fresh-squeezed lemon or lime juice NOT BOTTLED JUICE!! (approx. 1/2 lemon),
2 Tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) organic Grade B maple syrup,
1/10 Teaspoon or more cayenne pepper (hot red pepper), and
1 Cup (8 fluid ounces) purified or spring water, NOT fluoridated water.

Some people apparently do this for up to 40 days, which is absolutely insane. Just so know know, my doctor is in on this and has given it his blessing. He has friends that do it 4 times a year and swear by it.

IBM and Forterra Unify Lotus Tools and Virtual Worlds

This is a nice introduction to "Babel Bridge", a project to integrate Lotus unified telephony environment with the virtual environment.  

Adobe Is Holding Up the Cloud-Based Audio Workstation?

This is probably one of the most retarded movements I've yet seen in the intertubes. Pleading with Adobe to bring the DAW into the cloud? Create a free, cloud-based alternative to Garageband? WTF? Creative pros and hobbyists alike who work with the digital medium require stability first and foremost for their creative process to flow. This is one of the main reasons why Mac is so incredibly prevalent in the recording industry. Why in God's name would any self-respecting musician wish to go from his stable, powerful Mac to some web-based flash app in the cloud somewhere to compose his musical ideas? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for collaboration and digital distribution but this concept is whacky as fuck. Not that I don't see this coming sometime waaaay in the future when bandwidth becomes a commodity and we're all working on gigabit connections but it's just not feasible right now. Also, why on earth would anyone expect Adobe to be the one that brings this into the realm of possibility? Sure, they do some amazing things with Flash video but their audio software is the suck.

Anywho, humor the freetards here.

Exploring Coda - A Tutorial I Built Using ScreenSteps

I built this tutorial using ScreenSteps, a wonderful documentation builder on my Mac.  You can also view this lesson at my ScreenSteps Live page.

Exploring Coda

Site Management

Site Management - if you were building multiple sites, you could manage all of them from this view.

Site Management Detailed

Here is where you actually manage the basics of the site - connectivity, etc.

Edit Mode

One-click access to all of your code. Browse to the left and edit in the main frame.

Instant Preview

Simply click back and forth between code and preview to see your changes instantly.

CSS Editor

You can build each of your CSS styles using this simple builder and get a preview of each style immediately. This tool basically references all styles that are shown on the doc that is currently being edited - HTML or CSS. The style navigator even shows you color and text changes as they will appear on your page.

More CSS

Terminal

Built-in SSH terminal.

Books

Built-in reference library. Amazing.

Books Detailed

Drill down into a book to find all of the elements that you may want to work with.

Pick an element and fully explore the usage complete with examples. Note the crumbtrail nav on the bottom. Nice touch.

Manage Assets

Browse and manage all of your site's assets.

Use the function browser to find each of the javascript functions that are contained within your page or js library.

Programming language hints as you type.

Page Element Browser

Click on each page element to browse and select each one within the page.

Clips

A HUD browser of all relevant clippings to paste directly into your page. Think of this as your clipboard that you can actually manage. Core Animation used here - when you click on the i button, the pane actually flips over to reveal more info about that particular clip.

...more politicians could actually be leaders too.

I'm not pushing any politics here, just pointing out the kind of words that attract me to a candidate. This was McCain's response to a question today about how his environmental stance might anger GOP rank and file:

When it comes to making his fellow GOP colleagues "mad in the past," McCain said his job is to "do what I know is best for this nation, particularly where our environment is concerned."

Regardless of political party, I love a maverick. Even when i disagree with the candidate's position, nothing excites me more than to see a person stand by their principles regardless of anyone's opinion. I think more than anything else, I look for decisiveness in a leader and the courage to make tough decisions in the face of potential failure.