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Geek&Poke Quiz Of The Week

via Geek And Poke by Oliver Widder on 3/29/11

 

 

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Nancy’s Talk from TEDxEast: You Can Change the World

via Duarte Blog by Nancy Duarte on 3/3/11

Earlier this week, we shared the lessons we learned while trying to get a talk to fit into 18 teeny tiny minutes, now take a look at the talk that taught us.

This talk reveals the hidden structure that the greatest communicators and persuaders have used over thousands of years. Insights from literature and cinema helped reveal why the greatest communicators are riveting.

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Oracle and Open Source. NOT GOOD.

via Maison Fleury by Marcf on 1/25/11

If you have been following the java news lately there is one theme that keeps coming back. It seems Oracle has declared open season on Open Source java and is trying to bully its way.

There have been a few incidents of late. First there has been the Open Office/Libre Office fiasco, where Open Office was essentially forked by its own community. Then there was the Java/JCP tantrum thrown by Apache, where Apache noisily left the JCP over spats with OSS licenses for the JVM (Harmony). And lately there are more, notably one with NetBeans. But one that is closer to home (and my wallet) involves a project led by an employee of Cloudbees.

Basically, if I understand the situation correctly the lead developer was a Sun employee when he started Hudson. So Oracle claims they own IP and brand, which very frankly is completely irrelevant since the license is OSS and the guys at Cloudbees can continue their work un-encumbered. And there is one thing left to do, which is basically to fork the project. And so it is... a lot of the OSS community is flipping the bird to Oracle.

But this outburst of belligerence is a sign of a deeper malaise within Oracle/SUN. I have had my own issues with SUN back in the days, when they wouldn't allow us to get certified. But by and large the attitude from SUN was one of "laissez faire". SOMEONE at Oracle has woken up and declared that all java assets were to be monetized and therefore there seems to be crackdown going on in the java open source community.

There is also a large dose of ignorance of how "things work" on the part of Oracle in how it approaches these problems. At the end of the day, an OSS project is lead by a few individuals that truly drive the community. If Oracle feels it "owns" certain projects but the work is done outside the company, then Oracle doesn't own shit. Point in case when it gets down to it in Hudson, it seems to me that Kohsuke Kawaguchi, also known as KK, and his friends do all the work, while Oracle just waves their arms wildly. A community without its community of developers is an empty vessel, and Oracle is about to learn this lesson.

It saddens me in a way, I was hoping Oracle would continue the benevolent dictatorship style of SUN when it came to things java. It seems bent on dictatorship alone. I doubt few will follow.

In a way, I can understand where they are coming from, after all Java is in maintenance mode and it is therefore time to derive maintenance revenue. The execution however seems tone-deaf and frankly clumsy. I am glad I am not the one having to be the corporate pitbull.

FORK YOU ORACLE.

Humour : Les bonnes résolutions 2011 de Steve Jobs

via iPhone 4, iPad, iPod Touch : le blog iPhon.fr by jcsatanas on 1/5/11

Un peu d'humour pour la pause déjeuner !
Après vous avoir montré dans ce billet comment Apple pouvait vous aider à tenir vos bonnes résolutions, voyons maintenant celles de Steve Jobs, patron d'Apple !

Tout ceci est bien-sûr de l'humour provenant de Scoopertino, spécialiste US en la matière.

Ce "scoop" démarre un peu à la manière de l'oubli malencontreux d'un prototype d'iPhone 4 par un ingénieur d'Apple (voir dans ce billet) mais cette fois-ci, c'est une serviette Starbucks standard beige avec les 10 bonnes résolutions de Steve JOBS qui est en jeu.

Voyons maintenant de plus prés l'objet du délit :

1 - Maintenir le mythe Verizon

Les Américains attendent depuis 2 ans un iPhone compatible CDMA (plus de détails dans ce billet).

2 - Faire plus de canulars téléphoniques à Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg est le patron de Facebook si vous l'ignoriez encore ;-). Des appels entre les deux CEO concernant l'intégration de Ping / Facebook ont été évoquées l'an dernier.

3 - Enregistrer la marque « Steve » ; attaquer Ballmer

Référence aux nombreux procès entre Microsoft dont Ballmer est le pdg et Apple. Les 2 CEO partageant le même prénom "Steve".

4 - Virer Schiller s’il m’appelle encore une fois nu avec FaceTime

Phil Schiller est le directeur marketing d'Apple

5 - Refuser des applications, juste pour le plaisir

Sans commentaire

6 - Changer de numéro de téléphone, ne pas le donner à Woz

Woz pour Steve Wozniak, co-fondateur d'Apple

7 - Doubler la paye de Mossberg

Walt Mossberg, célèbre chroniqueur pour le NY Times(au look de professeu tournesol) qui a notamment mis l'iPad en tête des objets technos de 2010 et globalement couvre beaucoup l'actualité Apple.

8 - Virer quelqu’un pour son anniversaire

Cf l'oubli de l'iPhone 4 dans un bar au printemps dernier, ça vous rappelle quelque chose ?

9 - Passer à l’iPhone 4 quand le problème d’antenne sera corrigé

Allusion évidente à ce que l'on a appelé l'"Antennagate" (plus de détails dans ce billet).

10 - Fermer Scoopertino – pas drôles !

Final en clin d'œil aux auteurs de ces fausses résolutions.

Sympathique, n'est-ce pas ?

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Four Presentation Predictions for 2011

via Duarte Blog by Nancy Duarte on 1/3/11

Presentations have been through many (delightfully positive) changes in the last few years—but believe it or not—the most dramatic change is yet to come. Come along as we roll back the curtain and predict what the future looks like.

1. Tablet war will shape future of presentations

Tablets are hot and are creating new ways to engage customers with rich content and immersive experiences. iPads get passed around a conference table the same way yellow pads used to. But delivering a presentation on these devices requires different design considerations and a more immersive experience. Navigable stories and short video clips will win on this presentation platform. You want the folks at the table to hold the tablet and “see” what you’re saying quickly. A recent HBR blog posting said that, “Designing documents to be a sensual physical experience and not just a visually cognitive one demands different aesthetics and sensibilities. This nascent transition will be as profoundly important for future interpersonal communications—and branding—as the transition from radio to television. Having the right touch to get the right touch will become a desirable communications competence.”

2. Authenticity trumps “spin”

The instability in our world continues to make people skittish about the future and skeptical about the “truth” they’re being told by government and business. That leads to an even greater hunger for authenticity and transparency in communication — “spin” is out, “sincerity” is in. Hint to communicators: the audience can tell the difference no matter how you try to disguise it. Read Nick Morgan’s book Trust Me and Garr Reynold’s The Naked Presenter (review to come!). Both will help you come across as more authentic.

3. Hand made by [insert name here]

One way to come across as sincere and authentic is to present slides or sketches made by you. Almost all my internal slides delivered at Duarte staff meetings are all hand-sketched and scanned in. You can achieve the same result by hand drawing slides or even whiteboarding instead of slides. When my IT department was faced with buying new, expensive networking equipment, we brought in three vendors. The most expensive vendor—who also happens to be a Duarte client– had us sit and watch flash overview pieces on the web (the same ones that we created for them!) We felt like they didn’t know us or understand our problem. So we went with the vendor who could whiteboard a vision of how they might solve our problem. If you feel you can’t draw, use your favorite hobby to tell a story and take pictures along the way.

4. Increase in NO SLIDE ZONES

Speakers will stand up and talk. I didn’t say they won’t plan, they’ll talk without slides. We’ll see this more at the executive level and it will filter down through all layers of the business as well. People will get over the urge to sit behind the security blanket of a badly-designed, word-riddled PowerPoint slide. They’ll present “naked” or they’ll put in the effort required for great visuals.

Here’s a great example of a speech by Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg.

You’ll notice that her comfort monitor has dense text slides that serve as her teleprompter but they are not projected behind her. She’s very lovely on stage and her talk is chock full of stories. If she’d chosen to project her slides, it would have diminished her gracefulness on stage.

Less and less people will stand in front of poorly constructed visuals. Presenters will use great supporting visuals or none at all. The public’s tolerance for bad PowerPoint will eliminate the majority of bad visuals out there. Social stigma and peer pressure from having poorly constructed and distracting visuals will be career limiting.

Thanks for feedback from the Twitterverse: @viperblueuk @stephenRemedios @jwgorham @mpascoe @story_jon @reggyMortier @pediatricINC @tlgerglund @advanceUrSlides @anafxfz @matthewmccull @brataas @janschultink @twid @paulflanigan @toddbullivant @jaeSelle @edlee

10 Best Data Visualization Projects of the Year – 2010

via FlowingData by Nathan Yau on 12/14/10

Data visualization and all things related continued its ascent this year with projects popping up all over the place. Some were good, and a lot were not so good. More than anything, I noticed a huge wave of big infographics this year. It was amusing at first, but then it kind of got out of hand when online education and insurance sites started to game the system. Although it's died down a lot ever since the new Digg launched.

That's what stuck out in my mind initially as I thought about the top projects of the year. Then I went through the archives. There was a ton of great work, too. So much so that I've gone with the top ten data visualization projects of 2010, instead of the top five.

One of the major themes for 2010 was using data not just for analysis or business intelligence, but for telling stories. People are starting to make use of the data (especially government-related) that was released in 2009, and there was a lot more data made available this year (with plenty more to come). There were also more visualization challenges and contests than I could count.

So here are the top 10 visualization projects of the year, listed from bottom to top.

10. Asteroid Discovery

Scott Manley of the Armagh Observatory visualized 30 years of asteroid discoveries. It's a straightforward animation that shows planets and asteroids orbiting the sun, with waves of twinkles as discoveries are made. I especially liked the contrast between human and automated discoveries.

9. Driving Shifts Into Reverse

Hannah Fairfield, former editor for The New York Times, and now graphics director for The Washington Post, had a look at gas prices versus miles driven per capita. The chart could've easily been an x-y scatterplot, but the extra step was taken to connect the dots so to speak. Points were ordered by time, and turns were clearly explained graphically.

8. The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook

This weekender by Matt McKeon of the IBM Visual Communication Lab explored the changes of Facebook privacy policies over the years. It came right after Facebook had made another update to push for a more public profile. Click on the interactive, and see what becomes public and how many people can see your postings.

7. What Online Marketers Know About You

Along the same privacy lines, this project from Andrew Garcia Philips and Sarah Slobin (plus five data gatherers) of The Wall Street Journal explored what online marketers know about you. I wouldn't say the visualization itself was super advanced, but thoughtful reporting and company breakdowns really made the whole piece work.

6. Education Nation Scorecard

The Education Nation Scorecard, by Ben Fry-headed Fathom Design, brought together sparse education data, at the national, state, and local level, in a single application. You can easily search for your own school or area to see how it compares to the rest.

5. Nature by Numbers

Nature by Numbers by Cristobal Vila isn't a typical data visualization piece. It's more of a demonstration of mathematical concepts, but it's a beautiful work that must be watched to fully appreciate. You will have a new found appreciate for Fibonacci, guaranteed.

4. Tracking the Oil Spill

The BP oil spill was the center of public attention for a good part of the year, and The New York Times did a great job at keeping us updated on all aspects of the spill. This included where the oil spread, what land areas were affected, and effects on wildlife.

3. Polymaps

JavaScript keeps getting faster and is becoming a viable route (over Flash) for visualization on the Web. Polymaps, by SimpleGeo and Stamen, is an open-source JavaScript mapping library that lets you build interactive maps from scratch. I haven't had a chance to use Polymaps for a project yet, but I'm looking forward to it, and I am sure we will see a number of Polymaps projects spring up next year.

2. Journalism in the Age of Data

During his Knight Journalism fellowship at Stanford, Geoff McGhee interviewed visualization trendsetters on how they deal and what they do with data in Journalism in the Age of Data. Just about every well-known data practitioner (and their work) is featured in the hour-long video. The focus is on journalism, but the topics apply to all types of visualization.

1. Tourist Maps

We've seen maps based on Flickr photos before, but most aren't much more than pictures on a map. Eric Fischer took the next step and looked for where the tourists flock, all based on data available via the Flickr API. Tourist photos are marked red, local photos are marked blue, and photos where tourism could not be determined were marked yellow. He did this for over 100 major cities in the world.

The end result was maps with pockets of tourists and locals. Visiting somewhere new and want an authentic experience? Maybe head towards the blue.

Fischer also had a fine series on race and ethnicity.

And there you have it. Those are my top ten picks for 2010. It was tough ranking all of them, as many of these could've placed top honors on a different day. What are your picks for the year?

• 5 Best Data Visualization Projects of the Year – 2009
• 5 Best Data Visualization Projects of the Year
• Interaction Design Pilot Year Churns Out Great Student Projects

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Chinese Traffic Jam Extends 60 Miles and Nine Days

via INHABITAT by Cameron Scott on 8/23/10

If ever there were a case for the importance of good urban planning that includes mass transit, this is it: a 62-mile traffic standstill on a road leading to Beijing is now in its ninth day, with individual drivers caught in it for as long as three days. The cause of the jam — beyond the skyrocketing number of drivers in China — is heavy use of the route, the Beijing-Tibet expressway, by trucks bringing construction supplies into Beijing. The trucks don’t just add to traffic; they also damage the road, necessitating repair crews.

Read the rest of Chinese Traffic Jam Extends 60 Miles and Nine Dayshttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/ohttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=better_feedptions-general.php?page=better_feed

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