By Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we need to remind ourselves what it is that computers can and cannot do. Computers are taking over the world. Well, maybe not. Let’s recall what a computer can do. A computer can tell if a light bulb is on or off. That’s about it folks. Nothing more. Everything else is […]
Is the Light Bulb On or Off?
March 21st, 2022 · No Comments
Tags: Cloud Computing · Computing · General Systems Thinking · Learning · Software · Teaching · Technology
Hacking the International Order
March 3rd, 2022 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Expediting the fall of the nation state are the hacktivists or activist hackers. We have had mercenaries for many centuries. These were soldiers hired by governments to fight battles for them. Sometimes nations hired the armies of other nations to do this. Sometimes nations hired individuals. And we have had Internet mercenaries. […]
Tags: Change · Computing · Concepts · Government · Technology
Augmented Reality in 1980
February 21st, 2022 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Forty years ago I saw what Augmented Reality could do. I’m still waiting for it. Back in 1980, I spent much of my workdays repairing electronic equipment (yes, I am that old). Pull a piece of equipment out of the rack, put it on the workbench, remove the cover, and trace through […]
Tags: Concepts · Engineering · Help · Information · Knowledge · Technology
Data Science is the New Web Design
February 10th, 2022 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Many of today’s data scientists are similar to man of the web designers of the 1990s. I think this is a good thing. A recent conversation with a colleague helped me to realized something about data science in today’s world. I thought data scientists were computer scientists, engineers, and mathematicians who knew […]
Tags: Data Science · Engineering · Experiment · Expertise · Mathematics · Science · Systems · Technology · Tools · Web 2.0
The Details are in the Details
February 7th, 2022 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Managers want to hear the summary. The details are delegated. It is unfortunate that the summary rarely agrees with the details. “Summarize it for me. Give me three choices. I delegate.”—managers everywhere all the time. Simple statement from the managers. They have manager tasks to do. They delegate work to others. The […]
Tags: Communication · Design · Management · Software · Technology
Organized Disorganization
January 31st, 2022 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we “know where everything is” despite outward appearances. Sometimes we have “a place for everything and everything in its place.” Sometimes both ideas work. Sometimes neither work. Data is everywhere. Data is the new oil or bacon or pizza or something good or bad. The trouble with data is if I […]
Tags: Analysis · Data Science · Information · Knowledge · Research · Technology
The General Store (as a Service)
January 13th, 2022 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We have XaaS or EaaS. We have returned to the day of the general store. We have almost everything as a service. Some call this XaaS. I call it EaaS (Everything as a Service or maybe AEaaS Almost Everything as a Service). Examples, IaaS, DHaaS, SaaS, PaaS, etc. (how many letters are […]
Tags: America · Computing · Customer · Technology
The Clipboard and the Pencil…and the Hurricane
November 1st, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Unfortunate events provide yet another great reason to use a clipboard and a pencil. My records indicate that this is the fourth blog post I have written about the clipboard and the pencil. The gist is that these old, simple tools are still quite valuable. Hence, we might reconsider a few other […]
Tags: Adapting · Emergency · Internet · Learning · Notebook · Simple · Technology · Tools
RISC, CISC, and General Systems Thinking
September 23rd, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Reduced complexity optimizes for simplicity. Increased complexity optimizes for simplicity in another form. Which simplicity is “best” is a matter of situation. Apple has recently moved to their own “Apple Silicon” processors. In general terms, Apple switched from Intel’s processors to ARM’s processors. ARM processors are a form of RISC. Intel processors […]
Tags: Choose · Computing · General Systems Thinking · Systems · Technology
The Wonder of Carbon Paper
July 12th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Today’s copy machines make and store digital copies that go somewhere to someone. Carbon paper still makes a copy for safekeeping that goes to only those I designate. Copiers—”xerox machines” we used to call them—are now digital. When you make a copy, a there is a digital record of the original somewhere. Hence, […]
Tags: Copyright · Intellectual Property · Technology · Tools · Writing