Living With Technology

Oblivious to Some Social Networks

2012-02-08T20:25:00.000-08:00

A colleague's son recently graduated from college and is looking for a job. The son suggested that his father recommend him on LinkedIn, but my colleague thought a recommendation from a father might not be the best idea.

That's when my colleague's father turned to my 13-year-old daughter, who knows the son, and suggested that she recommend him on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com). My daughter replied: "What's LinkedIn?"

I was surprised at my daughter's response. As an early user of LinkedIn for business, I thought everyone used LinkedIn.

Upon further reflection, my daughter has no use for LinkedIn. It's primarily a business tool for people to connect people to other people. And my daughter is in the eighth grade.

For my daughter, her social media life is taken up with two main social media sites: Facebook (www.facebook.com) and Tumblr (www.tumblr.com). Her main use of the sites is that her friends are there and that's how they communicate with each other.

Her email account remains essentially unused. More than 90 percent of her digital communications with her friends is done through texting, Facebook and Tumblr.

The current most successful social media/social networking site is Facebook. With its expected $100 billion IPO coming up, it is clearly a social and financial success — especially for those with pre-IPO shares of stock.

As I started to think about the other social media sites that are out there, I recall a few that were huge (relatively speaking) just a few years ago, but have clearly languished in comparison to the big boys.
Remember Second Life (www.secondlife.com)? It was a site where people could create an avatar (a digital image to be themselves — or a person they wanted to pretend to be — in a fictional, digital world). Some companies opened up stores in Second Life. At least one country talked about opening up an embassy or consulate in Second Life.

How about MySpace (www.myspace.com)? That has become the place for bands and performers to publish their music and performances.

What I find interesting is how both Second Life and MySpace were once the "gotta go to" places that controlled significant heft, they are no longer quite as compelling, especially for the masses.
While Facebook will continue to dominate the social media space for a few years, one thing I've learned is that in technology, nothing is unchangeable. Not only do the people and products change, but the companies behind them change. I just wish I knew what the next step would be. And I look forward to showing my daughter LinkedIn. Maybe even making her first recommendation.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 8 February 2012.

What Happened to the Videophone?

2012-01-24T16:59:00.000-08:00

Growing up in Southern California, we enjoyed going to Disneyland more frequently than our friends and relatives who only visited from time to time.

My favorite area was Tomorrowland and one of my favorite exhibits was seeing the videophones.

For years, we would go and see the same exhibit. You'd sit in a booth while someone else would sit in another booth about 20 feet away. You could then talk to them while you saw them on a television screen and vice versa.

Every year, we were told that videophones were coming in our lifetime. We would be able to communicate with friends and neighbors around the world and see them as well as hear them.

But the technical hurdles were high. Televisions were expensive. The ability to send so much video information over far distances was also very high. I could only hope to see a videophone in my lifetime.

Then the world changed. The Internet happened.

All of a sudden, televisions not only became much less expensive, but not needed. We had computers with screens whose computing horsepower was rising dramatically while the cost per unit of performance plummeted.

Along with inexpensive screens, the ability to move large amounts of data became essentially free.

And so what entered are a number of services — many of them also free — that allow people to do what is now called a "video chat" on their computers. Skype is probably the best known of these software applications, but there are hundreds of others.

The strange part is that when I was sitting in that booth at Disneyland, I thought that when I had the ability to use a videophone, I would do it all the time. I don't.

I still make phone calls, but rarely do I use the video features. It's not just that picking up a phone is easier, but I don't always want to see the person on the other end of the line or even have them see me.

And while I in my mid-50s am not always the best indicator of what's hot with the younger generation, my 13-year-old daughter, who has a far more sensitive finger on the pulse of teen technology, doesn't use video calling much, either.

Sure, my daughter like to video chat with her friends. In fact, she uses the video calling features more than she uses a regular telephone.

Where I have seen video calling in popular use is among the young, digitally-connected companies who want do have video conferences to save on travel time and costs, and the occasional special call to someone to show off something.

I earlier reported that during a trip to China last summer, we were able to place a video call from the Great Wall to my brother in California so that his two young children could see what we were seeing. And the cost was zero.

While it's surprising how the reality of video calls hasn't turned out to be what we thought it would be, I can't say I'm surprised. It really is difficult to predict the future or how people will use inventions.

But now I want my flying car. When traffic on I-95 or the Merritt is bad, I want to unfold the wings and get on my way.
Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 25 January 2012.

I Want My (Private) Space

2012-01-11T12:28:00.000-08:00

Growing up with Alan Shepard as the first American in space, then later literally watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon, I am a child of a space exploration culture.

Going to the moon and beyond was what most children wanted to do growing up. Seeing the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" convinced me that I was going to fly into space on a Pan Am spacecraft.

Of course, Captain Kirk and the other Star Trek stories had me convinced that I wanted to explore the cosmos.

Needless to say, a lot has changed since my younger years. Cars still don't fly and neither are we able to go into space.

But the dream of space flight and space exploration continues.

When President Obama announced a scaling back of NASA last year, I was dumbfounded. How could we take a national treasure such as space exploration and slash the budget and "privatize" it?

It's taken me months before I can actually understand and kinda sorta agree with President Obama's decision.

The good news is that NASA will still work on very large, expensive missions, such as going to Mars. The bad news is that the Shuttle program has ended. We now rely on the Russians to transport crews to and from International Space Station.

What has brought me around to thinking that the decision to cut NASA's budget for "local" spaceflight might be a good thing is the Internet.

The Internet was originally a government project to connect colleges, universities and the government. While the core technology for the Internet was developed as the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) and funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Internet really took off when the commercial ventures became involved.

I recall when the Internet was struggling to decide whether commercial, for-profit (.com) domains should be allowed on the Internet. Previously, only .edu (education), .org (not-for-profit), .net (network providers) and .gov (U.S. government) domains were on the Internet.

When the commercial entities came to the Internet, its use quite literally exploded overnight and has continued to change our planet.

A number of companies have seen the opportunities for space businesses. These include Richard Branson who has started Virgin Galactic (www.virgingalactic.com), offering sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, and Scaled Composites (www.scaled.com), also offering sub-orbital manned rocket flights through SpaceShipOne, There's also International Launch Services (www.ilslaunch.com), a company that has been launching satellites into space since 1995.

In thinking about it, if NASA were the only player in the space business, the odds of me or my children ever going into space would be slim to none. With commercial ventures working on scaling space flight and gaining efficiencies in both safety and cost, I still think the chances of me going into space are slim.

But I would not at all be surprised if my children are able to affordably and safely take a ride into space or even to the moon in their lifetimes. What a wonderful experience that will be!

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 11 January 2012.

Digital Cinema Projection

2011-12-14T09:12:00.000-08:00

I love going to the movies. And so far, watching movies at home just isn't the same as going out to the local multiplex. I like the big screen, the great sound, being around other people, the popcorn, going on a date with my wife ... the whole idea of making a movie an event.

I also like watching movies at home, and with the large-screen, high-definition TVs, watching movies at home is far better than it was a decade ago, but it's just not the same as the theater.

Despite the latest craze of 3-D movies that have come out, there hasn't been much that has changed at movie theaters in the past few decades, except one thing: digital movie projection. Digital cinema projection has been coming for a long time. It used to be that whenever a movie came out, the studios had to spend about $25,000 per copy to send to movie theaters around the world. Multiply that by a few thousand theaters and you can see where distributing a movie gets pretty expensive.

However, replacing the film projectors with digital projectors was an expense that the local cinemas would have to bear in order to receive something other than a film copy.

Luckily, the economics to both the movie distributors and cinema owners has finally come to pass and many, if not all, of the movies you see in a theater are now digital. This means there are no longer reels of film in the projection booth.

So instead of a movie studio sending out large reels of film, it can send out optical discs, or even transmit a digital file directly from the studio to the theaters.

For you and I, who go see a movie, what's different? First of all, the images will generally be clearer, as there's no film jitter that could be caused by film moving through a projector.

Second, there's far less chance of the inevitable dust, scratch or other artifact on a screen in the middle of a movie.

Third, there's no chance of a film jamming and melting in the projector, as those of us over 40 have probably seen.

The current standard for cinema projection is called "2K," which has a resolution of 2048 x 1080 pixels — high-definition video has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. A new standard is out but not yet fully deployed called "4K," which has a resolution of 4096 x 2160 pixels — a full four times the resolution of 2K. See this website for a sample digital cinema projector. As the new 4K movies come out, expect to see higher clarity images that will make our current crop of movies look like old hand-cranked silent movies.

With the holiday season upon us, there is always a vast number of movies to see and always something for every taste.

So, while I will continue to see better and more diverse movie entertainment in my home, I will always want to go out to see movies in the theatre, if not just to enjoy the time with who I'm with, but also to check out the latest bit of Hollywood magic.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 14 December 2011.

OK, eBooks and eMagazines Win

2011-11-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

When Amazon came out with its Kindle a few years ago, I wondered if anyone — including myself — would truly prefer digital reading over paper reading.

I had no doubt that digital publishing would succeed. My question is whether people would choose digital over paper.

Having been using a number of digital devices over the year, most notably an Apple iPad 2, I have been converted.

Initially, I thought that reading the newspaper or a magazine digitally would not deliver the same — or as fulfilling — experience. True, reading on a digital reader is a different experience. And I prefer it.

We all know the experience of paper publishing, so I won't go into those benefits. Instead, let me tell you what I like about digital publications.

First, the experience is richer. Along with the text and photos that one normally has on paper, there are interactive bits such as video, interactive graphs, the ability to bookmark and even email a story to friends.

Second, delivery is reliable. I know that if BusinessWeek normally arrives in my driveway — yes, it's hand-delivered here in Westport — on Friday mornings, if I happen to be away or it's buried under 6 inches of snow, I can still download it.

Third, I can carry an entire library on a single device. When I used to travel more extensively, I used to take dozens of magazines with me in my carry-on luggage and then discard them when I was finished. Now, I can carry virtually unlimited amounts of reading material — and even use it on a flight when I'm not on the Internet — with no waste at all.

Fourth, it's green. There's less use of trees, printing, shipping and waste. I like that.

Fifth, we're only seeing the beginning to what digital publishing will like. I know the publishing business is a tough one. It's in the midst of a transformation. People expect information to be free, advertising revenues are down. But there are huge opportunities for a successful transformation of this industry. Multimedia is only the beginning. Interactivity and other features we haven't even considered yet will be coming.

Some of the problems with digital versus print publishing are that some companies provide you with free access to their content if you subscribe to their print magazines. Others require you to have two separate subscriptions — one to print and one digital.

I also find the interfaces to the magazines different and somewhat challenging. Where to access the reading applications, how to access the menus and issues, how to enter your subscription information and more. Each of these indicates to me a nascent technology that's striving to find a common solution.

So while I will find myself doing less and less reading of ink on paper, I can't say I'll miss it as much as I thought I would. I predict that within 10 years, our children will think of print newspapers, magazines and books are as quaint as vinyl records.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 30 November 2011.

Digital Shoebox Redux: iMemories

2011-11-16T07:27:00.000-08:00

As the unofficial "family historian" — or at least the person who takes the most pictures and videos in our family — keeping track of all of the photos and videos we have is a nightmare.

Note that my wife is far better at saving the tangible memories from our family, such as children's artwork, report cards, school projects, trip memorabilia and more.

When photographs used to result in prints, slides, negatives, reels of film and more, it was relatively simple to put them into a shoebox — or collection of shoeboxes — to review whenever desired. With the advent of digital technology, the idea of a shoebox is less relevant and far more complicated.

In recent years, I've talked in this column about the "digital shoebox" and how it's evolving. The real problem is storing all sorts of media, whether it be prints, slides, film and/or video. There hasn't really been a way to put it all together.

I've recently come across a website that seems to do it all quite well. It's called iMemories.com.

There are a number of items I like about iMemories.

First, it handles all types of media, including analog — film, for example — and digital. Second, in the conversion process, they can do things like color correct, especially important for film and prints that may have faded over time. Third, they store it online for you forever. Fourth, you can create online methods and physical ways, such as DVDs, to present the materials.

As far as handling all types of media, you can send them just about any type of media you have, whether it be prints, negatives or slides, and they can convert it for you.

If you have movies or video, they can convert just about any format of film of videotape you have.

Once the items are in the iMemories system, you can use their website to sort through what you want to keep, edit them down to what people might actually want to see and then create online videos, slide shows, DVDs or other items which can be made available to yourself, your family, your friends, or anyone willing to watch.

Note that iMemories knows how valuable your media is and so offers more than just a normal package tracking system. They also offer a GPS tracking tool so that if the package is truly missing, it can be located using GPS, not simply "out for delivery".

iMemories also returns your media to you once it's been digitized. This way you always have your original source items.

iMemories stores your media online for $4.95 per month for unlimited storage. Where they make their money is in the conversion of media and producing products. For example, converting a videotape costs $9.99, scanning a photo is $0.49, creating a DVD is $9.99.

These costs aren't too high on an individual basis, but I have probably 100 videotapes of my family. Converting them would cost close to $1,000, not to mention all of the still photos I have.

Luckily, iMemories offers the ability to upload video to its site for free. This is good, especially if you have a fast Internet connection — note that typical Internet access is far faster downloading than uploading — so upload times can take days, if not weeks, if you have lots of media to upload.

But if you are looking for a good place to store your digital assets, I encourage you to give iMemories a try. They appear to have put all of the proper pieces in place to provide a needed service.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 16 November 2011.

Cloudy With a Chance of Coolness

2011-10-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of discussion about "cloud" technology and what that means. In a nutshell, it means that much of the storage -- music, video, spreadsheets, emails and more -- as well as computation are done not on the device you're using, but in data centers somewhere else.

No longer do you have to have all of your data and lots of horsepower on your local computer in order to do what you've been doing for years...listening to music, watching movies, writing emails, working on presentations and spreadsheets and more.

All of these things can now be kept in the "cloud."

For most people, this will be an evolutionary change that takes place over years. In particular, as smartphones get smarter and their connection to the Internet gets faster, there will be less and less things that physically reside on the devices you carry around or keep in your home or office.

Other devices that will rely more and more on cloud technologies include tablet computers, such as the Apple iPad and the tablets that use the Android operating system.

Desktop computers, the ones that sit on the floor or on a desk and aren't particularly mobile, will continue to be used for tasks such as video editing, music composition and large projects that use lots of disk space and plenty of processor power.

Interestingly enough, the work that most of us do daily, such as surfing the Internet, doing email and texting people, is ideally suited for cloud computing.

What has prompted cloud computing's ability to exist is the virtually ubiquitous Internet connectivity. In homes and offices, Internet connectivity is almost a given.

Outdoors, between cable companies providing WiFi as part of their home Internet services and the mobile companies providing Internet services as part of their smartphone services, most places where people go there is some sort of Internet access.

As I wrote last year, more and more airplanes are offering WiFi onboard, for a fee.

So unless you are going hiking, climbing or exploring to remote areas, odds are that you can have access to the Internet.

But cloud technologies do have some limitations. If everything you have is in the cloud, if and when your connection to the Internet -- and hence the cloud -- goes away, your access to your information goes away.

Additionally, if the provider that is storing your data or providing you with the computer power were to go away, you may not be able to retrieve the data. This could also be problematic.

Don't get me wrong. Having data locally on your computer isn't without its perils. If your laptop computer with all of your data goes missing and it's not backed up correctly, the data could be gone, too.

With all of the hype about cloud computing, most consumers will see more subtle shifts of keeping and managing their own data on their own devices to having providers keep and manage it for them. Overall, I see this as a good thing and one which will continue to provide more features that we will find unfathomable to live without.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 19 October 2011.

Maker Faire 2011 - What You Missed

2011-10-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

Sept. 17 and 18 was the second annual Maker Faire event at the New York Hall of Science. It is the East Coast exhibition of people who make things.

On the surface, this may not seem like much, but America was built on the ingenuity of our ability to create things, whether they be tools, cars, technology or other things.

For a variety of reasons, including lower labor costs in other countries and globalization of companies, Americans don't make as much as we used to. Nonetheless, the event is a celebration of the creativity and ability to make things that is still alive and well here in the United States.

The event is also an excellent place for children of all ages to explore science, engineering, electricity, creativity, music, visual arts and more.

Some of my favorite exhibits were the 3D Pavilion where there were demonstrations of devices that work in 3D, including 3D printers that can take a design in your computer and output it in 3D. My other favorite exhibit was the Maker Shed where people can actually build things, whether they be small electronic devices or a marshmallow shooter out of PVC pipe — my 6-year-old son's favorite.

In the video I created, which can be viewed at here, one of the crowd pleasers was the "Sashimi Tabernacle Choir," a Volvo to which the owner attached 250 dancing mechanical fish.

Another crowd pleaser was the electrical performance by ArcAttack, a musical group that wears metal suits — Faraday cages, actually — and interacts with huge bolts of electricity generated by giant Tesla coils. Its performance can be seen at www.arcattack.com.

Along with the exhibits that came in for the two-day event, there were a number of speakers, including Westport's David Pogue, who spoke on iPhone tips and tricks.

What interests me the most is to see the creative people who are keeping our abilities to create alive. I also relish seeing adults and children who see things that spark their interest and curiosity in science, engineering and the fact that they can create things rather than having to always buy things.

At the end of the day, it was fun to watch the families leaving Maker Faire talking about the fun things they saw and did.

I know my own family had to make a trip to Home Depot the following day to buy some PVC tubing and corners so that we could make some marshmallow shooters for my son's friends.

After we brought the PVC tubing home and sat on the steps cutting the pieces to size, my son was quite happy to experiment with his marshmallow shooter, putting pieces together, finding out what configurations worked and what didn't, how he could make the shooter bigger or shoot the marshmallow farther. He then had fun taking the new marshmallow shooters we'd made to his neighbor friends, putting them together and having marshmallow wars in the back yard. I think I have a young "maker" on my hands and we'll be going to Maker Faire 2012 next year.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 5 October 2011.

FairCo TEEM: Where Westport's Tech-savvy Meet

2011-09-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

As part of my series on technology in Westport, this week's column is about where many of the tech-savvy people in Westport meet and get to know each other.

One of the newest groups of people getting together is FairCo TEEM, which stands for Fairfield County Technology, Entertainment, Environment and Marketing. The group meets monthly to learn and develop relationships among local businesses and entrepreneurs. Started in 2010 by Peter Propp, John Blossom and Alex Sherman, it has grown from a handful of people sitting at Bogey's to a group with 160 members and approximately 40 attending each meeting and now meets at the Westport VFW building on Riverside Avenue.

Propp has a background in technology from IBM where he handled numerous aspects of its WebSphere software product, among other projects. John Blossom is an expert in content and publishing. Alex Sherman holds a senior position in R&D at Affinion in Stamford. Together, the three have extensive experience in technology, marketing and startups.

So when Peter and Alex attended a New York Meetup event focusing on people and companies in the New York area, they thought it would be worthwhile to bring the model to Fairfield County. A typical meeting consists of mixing and mingling followed by a presentation from one or more local companies regarding what they're doing.

Meetup events are an excellent way for people to connect with each other in a professional, yet social way.

Having attended a few of the FairCo TEEM meetings, they provide an excellent way to connect with local technology people. Members include software developers, marketing people, presidents of local start-ups and people from some of the area's larger firms. Everyone at the meeting seems genuinely interested in tapping into the talent that is here in the Fairfield County area.

Propp said he was invited earlier this month to meet Governor Malloy at a jobs roundtable at the new Stamford Tech Center because the governor wanted to know what the state could do to drive more job growth in the tech and start-up arenas. Propp told Malloy about FairCo TEEM's founding and said there are a lot of great start-up ideas coming out of this state, but the challenge is to connect them with the skills to make them happen and the money to bring them to market with the appropriate backing.

Malloy loved his story on FairCo TEEM, said Propp, who thinks the group has already played and will continue to play an important role in driving innovation to market. Propp further noted the group is "already connecting the dots between the innovators, the builders and the funders who are all critical to creating a start-up ecosystem."

It's this sort of local and statewide attention that will continue to let people in our community help grow our economy.

This month's FairCo TEEM meeting will be held 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 465 Riverside Ave. Visit www.meetup.com/FairCo-TEEM for information.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 21 September 2011.

Automotive Technology in China

2011-09-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

As I reported in my last column, I recently spent 17 days with my family in China celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary.

We stayed primarily in the tourist spots, including Beijing, Shanghai, Yangtze river, Three Gorges Dam, terracotta warriors, Li River and Hong Kong. Unfortunately, we did not have time to see many of the manufacturing or other primarily rural areas that I'm sure would have provided even more insights.

It was a great trip and, as always, allows me insights into how other people and countries do things. What I often like seeing is how other people's ways of doing things often take a very different approach and can be quite eye opening.

My expectation of China's large cities was that most of the traffic was bicycles, mopeds and other slow, clunky traffic. Not so. Most of the cities we visited were clogged with automobiles large and small. Despite Beijing's broad streets — sometimes four lanes each direction — it looked like any major American or European city from a traffic perspective.

Shanghai and Hong Kong were much denser than Beijing, with more high-rises, looking more like New York City, but cleaner and much newer.

What did surprise me was the number of electric scooters (mopeds) we saw. Given my non-scientific sampling, it wouldn't surprise me if half of the scooters were electric. Unlike the noisy, stinky small-engined mopeds we're used to, these electric ones were silent.

My guess is that the range of an electric scooter was 10 or so miles, but for most people, that's sufficient to get them where they need and back on a single charge.

Looking at the street traffic, there were quite a few identifiable brands of automobiles, including Toyota, Nissan, Kia, BMW, Mercedes, and more. What surprised me was the number of Buicks that were driving around. General Motors has a strong presence — including manufacturing — in China, and Buick is a brand that has a remarkable presence.

Of course, there were brands I was totally unfamiliar with ... some of Chinese origin and others from India, Korea and elsewhere. Some odd varieties, including the requisite three-wheeled variety that we see so few of in North America.

What did surprise me was the number of truly ancient vehicles still on the road. Here's a link to a video of a Chinese truck that was common there: http://tinyurl.com/ChineseTruck. It would clearly not pass any road or safety standards we have in the United States, but certainly looks easy to maintain and is probably quite reliable.

Unfortunately, I didn't see any "next big thing" from an automotive perspective. It could be that some of the vehicles that we saw were fully electric or hybrids, but they didn't stand out visually or with any badging that would indicate they're anything other than gasoline or diesel-powered.

My take-away from a transportation perspective is that, at least in the Chinese cities, they have certainly advanced from the stories and pictures I recall, and I can understand why their need for oil, in particular for gasoline and diesel fuel, is continuing to drive global demand.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 7 September 2011.

Hello? Great Wall Calling

2011-08-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

As you read this, we will be returning from a trip to China celebrating my wife's and my 25th wedding anniversary.

Of course, a trip abroad is always an opportunity to try out some new technology, which we were able to do.

Despite something in our Beijing hotel causing two power bricks for my laptop computer to fry themselves (and having to find replacements), technical issues have been fine.

Of particular fun was sharing some of our experiences with one of my brothers in California. Bill and his wife, Johanna, have two children, both under 12. We thought they'd enjoy seeing the Great Wall when we're in Beijing.

I rented a portable WiFi Internet device for the duration of our trip. These devices essentially put a WiFi hotspot in your pocket while connecting to the 3G cellular service. They're available from most of the mobile companies such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, although I rented mine from a Chinese company that offers services to travelers.

Along with this device, I brought our iPad 2 which supports Facetime, a video chatting service, not unlike Skype, although Facetime only works over WiFi on an iPad or iPhone.

We tried Facetime from our home in Westport prior to our departure, then tried it again as we were driving out of Beijing. This test allowed my niece and nephew to see the Olympic "Bird's Nest" stadium as we were leaving town.

When we arrived at the Great Wall, I wondered what sort of cellular service we would have. I was quite pleased when the WiFi device sported five full signal bars, despite us being out in the countryside.

While standing on the Wall, I powered up the iPad and tapped my brother's name in Facetime. About 20 seconds later, our niece and nephew's faces appeared on the screen.

The general cacophony of the people on the wall meant we couldn't hear what my niece and nephew were saying, but we could see them smiling broadly and we were able to show them the Great Wall and surroundings. They later told us they were able to hear us clearly and it ended up being a great experience for both them and us.

It was also funny to see people around us trying to figure out what we were doing. I was holding up and talking to this black tablet thing. iPads are not unknown here. There are billboards advertising them. But they are not nearly as popular as one would see, say, on a Metro-North train.

We intend on sharing some of our other experiences with them as we continue our tour, including seeing the Terra Cotta warriors, Li valley and Hong Kong.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 24 August 2011.

3-D: Finally Here?

2011-08-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

Three-dimensional (3-D) imaging has been a novelty for decades. I remember wearing the red-and-green glasses as a kid and seeing movies that were 3-D, but without realistic colors.

Hollywood has been trying to make 3-D into a viable medium for the past few years, with some success. Some of the movies out recently look very good in 3-D, beyond the gratuitous water squirting or swords being thrust towards the audience.

One of my favorite 3-D movies was "Avatar" that used 3-D to add quite literally an additional dimension to the movie, where backgrounds appeared in the background and even large landscapes had a real depth.

Some have argued that the primary reason why Hollywood likes 3-D is because they can charge a premium for 3-D movie tickets. I'm sure there's a lot of truth to that.

Of course, as a consumer, the biggest drawback of 3-D is having to wear special glasses to see the 3-D effect. While this yields a good 3-D experience, the polarized lenses end up darkening the screen, so the brightness of a movie is subdued.

Screens that don't require the viewers to wear glasses are coming, but so far the biggest limitation is that the viewer must sit within a very small angle in front of the screen.

All of these limitations will be overcome, I believe, and here's why.

I remember when computer screens were all monochrome (typically a green or light grey phosphorescent glow). When color monitors came out, no one could comprehend why we would need color screens.

I also remember when printers came out. Originally, line printers only print one color. First-generation laser printers also printed only black. The costs of four-color printing, when they started to become available, were prohibitive. Again, very few people saw the growth of color printing as becoming commonplace.

Yet most monitors and printers purchased now are color.

I believe that 3-D displays will eventually become standard on personal computers, TVs and in movies. From a personal computer standpoint, I can see where spreadsheets and even word processing documents could benefit from 3-D, much as they now do from color and different fonts. Business charts in 3-D could be far more informative with 3-D as a component.

From a video perspective, there are now consumer grade 3-D video cameras on the market. As 3-D video editing comes of age, we'll have videos on YouTube and of people's vacations that are in 3-D, much as we have people creating 2-D videos now.

While we're still a few years away from mainstream acceptability and technical capability, I believe in 10 years, we'll look back on 3-D capabilities as an essential part of computing, as we now do color monitors and printing.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 9 August 2011.

Extra TV for Free

2011-07-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

Advertisers have known for years that two things sell: sex and free. Well, this column will only entice you with free.

Tablet PCs, probably best known by the Apple iPad, have clearly made a major foothold in the marketplace. Software applications — or "apps" as they're called — are instrumental in giving these tablets life.

Much has and will continue to be written about the different strengths and weaknesses of Apple's offerings versus the Android operating system from Google and the offerings from HP, BlackBerry and others. This not the column for that discussion.

What is of interest is that if you purchase your cable service from Cablevision and use their Optimum products, there's a very powerful app for the iPad that you may want to try.

Called "Optimum for iPad" and available from Apple's App Store, this app does a handful of things quite nicely.

First, if you are within your home where your cable service is delivered, the app allows you to watch live TV directly on your iPad. This is where the free TV offer comes in. In essence, it turns your iPad into a TV — for free!

Second, the app lets you schedule and manage your Optimum Digital Video Recorders. This means that if you want to record "American Idol," you can do it directly from your iPad. This is a function that does not have to be done from within your home.

There are a few limitations to the Optimum for iPad app that I have encountered.

First, the limitation of the iPad having to be on your home WiFi network and in your home is unfortunate. This is a licensing-of-shows issue, not a technical one. While I understand Cablevision's licensing restrictions, it would still be nice to watch live TV wherever I happen to be with my iPad.

Second, while we can control the DVR(s) in my home with the iPad app, it would be nice to allow the DVR to stream video I've already recorded to the iPad. The current version doesn't allow this. If I want to watch something I've recorded, I have to sit in front of the television to where the DVR is connected. How quaint.

Third, I've found that with the live TV streaming to the iPad, the video frequently will halt, seemingly go back in time about 10 seconds and start streaming again. This seems to be an issue with the app or the service, but something that I hope will be fixed soon.

Optimum also offers an iPhone/Touch app, but it only controls the DVR. It doesn't offer live video streaming. Optimum also offers an app for Android devices, but it currently offers only the features of the iPhone/Touch app. I expect this will change as Optimum's software developers write code. What was pleasantly surprising was how Optimum has done a good job of keeping abreast of mobile technologies when their business is typically based on an inherently fixed (e.g. "cable") service.

For us as consumers, it is freeing us to have the entertainment we want when and where we want it. Life is good.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 27 July 2011.

Traveling Students

2011-07-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

This month, my family is hosting a high school student from Spain. She's here to learn about American language and culture. Of course, one of the best ways to do this is by living with an American family.

It's quite fun that she arrived on the Thursday before the long Fourth of July weekend. What indoctrination into American culture!

Prior to her arrival, we received her email address and were able to email her some photos of our family and even some panoramas of the front and rear of our home from a free tool from Microsoft called photosynth.net.

We were considering doing a video conference call using Skype to introduce her to our family, but that was not something she had available to her.

I was also wondering what technology she would need while she's here. It should come as no surprise that she came well-equipped.

First of all, she brought her own laptop computer. All she needed was access to our home WiFi and she was off and running.

Second, she brought her own digital camera, so she was quite able to take and send photos to her family whenever she wanted.

Third, while we haven't seen one yet, it wouldn't surprise me if she brought her own mobile phone, although it won't surprise me if she doesn't use it for the month she's with us. [Update: She did bring a mobile phone, but is using it only for texting.]

All in all, she came very well-equipped to fit into our home with what is now pretty standard travel electronics.

I do always enjoy seeing computers and other devices which are not in English. While the screens look and feel the same, the names that are used for the various menus and options are typically quite different. It's actually a good way to learn bits and pieces of a foreign language. If one knows what the menus and options are in English, there's typically a one-to-one correspondence between the menus and options in the other language. I've enjoyed seeing our student's Spanish software.

Another aspect that is different is that the keyboards can be somewhat different. Spanish, for example, has a number of character modifications that are simply not part of English. While our computers have the ability to generate these characters, they're usually on a menu or some obscure command somewhere, whereas on the Spanish keyboard, they're important enough to warrant real estate on the keyboard itself.

While this summer, we're having a visitor in our home, I know of many families who are sending their children abroad for some or all of the summer. The best part of the technology that people can carry with them is that it's generally much lighter than it ever has been and keeping in touch for fun or emergencies is easier and less expensive than it ever has been.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 13 July 2011.

Local Technology: IMOK

2011-06-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

Note: Westport is an amazing place. There's a huge amount of creativity in our town. This is the first of a series of columns that highlights what Westport residents are doing in technology. If you're involved in technology — whether it be a startup or a large corporation — contact me about a possible story.

Apple changed the landscape of what a phone is when it released the original iPhone. Although there were other phones that did other things, most notably the BlackBerry, the iPhone brought a whole world of applications (called simply "apps"), functions and a decent Web browser to a portable phone. These new phones are typically called "smartphones."

While smartphones typically started with adults, they are becoming more popular with children. And, with parents' eternal desire to keep their children safe, both parents and children benefit when a smartphone addresses the desires of both constituents.

One iPhone app created by Westport resident Matt Bromberg called IMOK attempts to address the needs of both parents and children.

In essence, IMOK encourages children to check in on their phone to let their parents know where they are and who they're with. IMOK allows this checking-in without the painfully embarrassing phone call home.

"By sharing their location, taking pictures, tagging friends, and telling you what's up, your kids earn points that can be exchanged for things you've agreed to, like spending money or special privileges," Bromberg said. "Getting a text from your kids is fine. But all parents would like to know more about where their children are, who they're with, and what they're doing. By incentivizing kids to share more, the app turns something that was difficult and contentious into a game."

When asked about how he got into this business, Bromberg said: "When I got out of law school, I knew I didn't want to be a lawyer, so I took a sales job at an online business. Later, I spent a bunch of years at AOL in its heyday, and that excitement kind of sealed it for me."

The team Bromberg put together for this project consists of people he's worked with over the years. He credits his wife and supportive family as being instrumental in making IMOK happen.

The project has been funded by investors, including some of his own money.

The app is still in beta (pre-release), but Bromberg encourages everyone to visit www.imok.com to follow the development and release of the software. Maybe it will even help open the lines of communication between parents and children.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 29 June 2011.

Internet Access a Human Right

2011-06-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

On May 16, the United Nations declared Internet access to be a human right. The report to the 17th session of the United Nation's Human Rights Council by UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue has declared that Internet access is a tool to protect people. The full 22-page report can be seen at: http://bit.ly/kNHvvm.

It's clear that the Internet has changed the world. In the United States, it has typically opened up commerce (how we buy stuff) and entertainment (how we have fun).

However, in many parts of the world, the Internet has a more profound effect on people's basic needs and has recently been credited with contributing to the overthrow of undesirable government regimes, among other benefits.

As I heard about the UN's declaration, I wondered what are some of the other human rights? The report by Mr. La Rue includes the following statement: "The right to freedom of opinion and expression is as much a fundamental right on its own accord as it is an `enabler' of other rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to education and the right to take part in cultural life and to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications, as well as civil and political rights, such as the rights to freedom of association and assembly."

Pretty heady stuff.

Further reading of the report indicated some of the key aspects of this human right include freedom of expression and access to unfiltered information. In other words, not having only a single view of information, say from the government. The report is in effect saying that multiple — even dissenting — views are valuable.

For some people, their only source of information are newspapers, television and radio stations which are controlled by the government. The government even controls telecommunications, which includes the Internet in their country, so websites may be blocked if deemed necessary by the people who control the access.

The report also did acknowledge the legitimacy of blocking access to some information, most notably child pornography.

Note that the report did not say that people need to have high-speed Internet connections into their businesses, homes or schools.

I also found an interesting story in the New York Times on June 12 about how the United States government is helping people with "repressive governments" bypass the same sorts of limitations that the United Nations has said should not exist. The article can be read at: http://nyti.ms/jNEFsO.

Right now, I don't see the UN having any power to control or correct any country who decides not to participate in its pronouncement, although now that the UN has declared Internet access as a human right, countries that don't comply may be deemed to violate people's human rights.

While the personal effect of the Internet on our community is far different than the people who will be affected by this declaration, I hope that having this declaration by the UN will continue to improve the lives of people around the world. If that's the case, then the Internet will again continue to amaze me as to the value it brings to the world.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 15 June 2011.

Social Media Run Amok

2011-06-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

We've all heard about social media. In particular Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more. We're all aware that people post things online and others comment on them.

Facebook now has the ability to "Like" something to tell others you agree with it in some manner. LinkedIn has for years had the ability to provide recommendations to someone else.

Most Facebook comments are pretty innocuous, saying things like: "I like this" or "Way cool!" or "Can you believe that?"

Occasionally, you'll see something like: "Boy, was that dumb" or "Oooh, that makes me angry."

And then there are the times that people get downright ugly, publicly criticizing someone for something superficial: "Sally really shouldn't wear tight pants with a figure like that" or something more egregious like: "Bobby Smith is the ugliest person in the world."

Chalk some of these up to youthful indiscretion, anger or immaturity.

I recently came across a Web site called Mixtent who's tag line is "Rate and discover the most talented people in your network."

This came to me because one of my colleagues had apparently voted for me based on my finance skills. Since I don't usually think of myself as a financial whiz, I thought I should investigate further.

As with many sites, when you create an account, it asks you for the login credentials for other sites, which I provided only one since I never quite know what these sites will do with my information.

What I was presented with was a list of people I know and I was asked to compare person A to person B and tell Mixtent who I thought was better in their profession.

To date, I have declined to rate any of my colleagues because it's really impossible to say who's better at a particular job than someone else — at least in my book.

While two people may have the same position, each brings their own strengths and weaknesses to the table. To say that one person is definitively better than another is beyond my ability to judge and certainly beyond my desire to assign such a comparison.

To me, that's like trying to compare two men and say who's the better father or two women to say who's the better mother.

I understand the desire to compare two people based on a third party's interpretation, but without any sort of objective and consistent criteria, the whole idea is fraught with nothing but trouble.

I don't know how successful Mixtent has been. So far, I know that I haven't been rated very much and most of my technology colleagues had expressed a high "ick" factor regarding the site, but I believe we will see more of this in the future.

In particular, I believe we will see software emerging that, much like Google's ground-breaking "Pagerank" where a Web page's relevance was increased as more people linked to it, I believe we will see people be ranked by the number and "quality" of the people in their Facebook or LinkedIn network.

As people continue to have a controlled profile on the Web, sites like Mixtent will provide more and more information about you over which you may have no control.

In order to know what people are saying about you, I suggest that people regularly Google themselves by simply typing in your name into Google and see what pops up. It's really amazing what you may find out about yourself — or quite frequently someone else with whom you share your name.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 1 June 2011.

The Day(s) the Email Went Out

2011-05-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

Recently, one of my main email providers experienced three outages in the same week. Luckily, one was from about 6 to 7:45 a.m., so it didn't affect too many people during normal business hours. But the other two outages affected users for four more hours each time.

About a decade ago, I observed that email had become more vital to people than the telephone.

Businesses rely on email for general communications, sending contracts, certificates and other time-sensitive information.

The expectation is that email will arrive in minutes.

So when email stops flowing, things get ugly.

Business can grind to a halt. Stories that were relayed to me included frustrated customers that felt people were ignoring them, interviews that were missed and deadlines weren't met.

The fact is that systems fail. Whether it be an organization, a person or a technology.

Some of us may remember when we had the huge power outage here in the Northeast a few years ago. That's a major system failure.

There are times that dams break or even someone forgets to file a needed document. All system failures.

We expect that systems in place won't fail. By and large, here in the United States, the systems we have work pretty well.

So when a system fails, we have to figure out what "Plan B" is.

But regarding email systems, all of the major providers have had systems outages: Google's Gmail, Yahoo!'s Mail and Microsoft. All provide both free and paid email and all have had major outages.

Having email in-house is also no guarantee of 100 percent up-time. Companies that host their own email still have outages, but also have the ability to create systems that put servers in different data centers and geographies that are customized to their needs and mitigate their risks. Typically you don't read in the press about in-house email systems going down.

Most of us would never think of hosting our own email system. It's too costly and too much work. And, if you have Internet service through a local provider such as AT&T or Cablevision, they include a handful of free email accounts.

So how do you deal with systems that eventually will go down? My suggestion is to have an alternative available. For example, if you're using Gmail as your primary account, also have a Yahoo! or Cablevision account that will let you at least notify colleagues and friends of the outage.

With alternate accounts, although your work may be delayed, at least you will be available and can continue to function if even at a reduced level of activity.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 18 May 2011.

Living UnWired

2011-05-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

It seems that no matter where I go and no matter what I'm doing, I'm always in touch with someone else. Between smartphones that can send and receive email and texts pretty much wherever I am, it's hard to not be available.

As humans, we're all social, albeit at different points on a continuum. But sometimes I like to be left alone.

My last column discussed how we can now obtain Internet service on airplanes, once considered the last bastion of Internet isolation. That has now crumbled.

Many campers and backpackers still find that they can obtain a mobile phone signal in the less-populated areas and that you really have to go far afield before your phone signal is non-existent.

But being connected or disconnected is my choice.

Often for my work, I need to stay connected in order to support customers or other needs that arise outside of regular business hours. Other times, I want to be able to communicate with family and friends. All this is good.

But there are times when I really just want to be alone or with a group of others and not have distractions. No computers, no mobile phones, no texting. Just spend time that doesn't include a glowing screen.

I spent this past weekend at Heifer International's Overlook Farm in Massachusetts. While they had some nominal Internet access, I can't say I tried hard to get it to work and spent the bulk of the weekend with the church group with which I came.

I really liked it.

In talking to one of the other group leaders, we discussed how some communities regularly have "technology-free weeks" where they turn off the TVs, TiVos, Wiis, XBOX 360s, mobile phones, computers and more.

Instead, the families go for walks, play baseball, go swimming, read a book, have dinner together, go for a hike, clean up the house, fix stuff, whatever they do that doesn't involve technology.

While our technology allows us to communicate and connect as we never have before, it also distracts us from ways in which we as humans really communicate and connect -- in person.

It's often easy to disconnect when we physically go to a geography where the services that connect us aren't available. Yet, it is our choice whether we wish to use these services when we're in our own homes.

I, for one, will work with my family to have "technology-free" weekends, even if we're just hanging around the house. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with my family and friends in a way that may be unfamiliar to some, yet rewarding to all.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 4 May 2011.

Flying the Connected Skies

2011-04-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

Flying used to be one of the havens where people were disconnected from the rest of the world. No phones, no radios, no Internet connections.

That's all gone.

A recent flight had me try out the GoGo Inflight Internet service (www.gogoinflight.com), which offers WiFi Internet service on airplanes.

What that means is that even when you're flying at 30,000 feet, you can have wireless Internet access.

I tried it and it worked well. I was able to connect to the GoGo service, create an account, sign up for a "single flight" service and start using the Internet.

Everything I tried worked smoothly. I was able to surf the Internet, check and send email and work just as though I was anywhere else where I work.

The cost of the service is $12.95 for a single flight or $34.95 for a monthly plan. GoGo offers a variety of plans, including a 24-hour plan, a 6-pack and more.

I don't travel enough to warrant a monthly subscription, but the single flight purchase served me well.

The speed of the service was pretty slow. It equated to what was essentially dial-up speed, typically one-twentieth the speed of my home or office Internet speed. Certainly good enough for doing basic work, but not enough to use Netflix to watch movies, Skype to make phone calls or other functions that require reasonably fast, uninterrupted service.

Having heard of GoGo in the past, I thought it was satellite-based. In fact, it's terrestrial-based. Instead of having antennas pointed to the Earth, GoGo has towers across the country that face skyward. Electronics on the airplane handle the local WiFi connectivity and transmit the signals to the ground-based towers.

As GoGo is terrestrial based, it only works over land and doesn't work on flights to destinations such as Hawaii where large portions of the flight are over water. The GoGo service is currently domestic (lower 48 states) only.

Of particular interest to me was the fact that once I had purchased a license, it worked on all of my WiFi-enabled devices: my laptop computer and both of my mobile phones.

The only restriction was that I could only use one device at a time. In order to use the WiFi on my mobile phone, I had to log off of GoGo on my laptop then log in on my phone. I can live with that, but it would be nice to have been able to use more than one device at the same time, as I do on the ground.

What I did like was the fact that I could take care of some business and personal functions during the down time of the flight, leaving me more time to spend with the people I was going to see when I landed.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 20 April 2011.

LED Lights are Here. Really.

2011-04-06T12:10:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) arrived on the scene. They are much more energy efficient than typical incandescent bulbs. For example, a CFL bulb consumes about one-third the amount of electricity as an incandescent bulb.

The reduction in electricity consumption is a great boon, and I've seen a reduction in my monthly electrical consumption since I switched all of the most frequently-used bulbs over to CFLs.

What I haven't liked about CFLs is that they tend to be slow to come up to full brightness and their color is a bit too yellowish for my taste.

Oh, and if you want them to be dimmable, the cost goes way up while the usable range of dimming is about half that of an incandescent bulb.

But I've always wondered why light-emitting diodes (LEDs) weren't more popular. Well, they've finally arrived.

In one of my frequent trips to Costco, I saw that they were offering some LED floodlights. If an item is at Costco, it's mainstream. The cost was $40 per bulb, but with a Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) instant rebate of $20, the cost was only $20.

Of course, the packaging touts how much money the bulbs will save you over the course of the 10 or so years the light is supposed to last, but they are comparing the bulbs to incandescent bulbs, not the CFLs I already invested in.

What I really like about the LED lights is the color of them, their instant on capabilities and the dimming range. All very attractive.

I also like the fact that the LEDs don't have the bit of mercury in them, so disposal is not as much of an issue as it is with CFLs.

What I don't like about the LED lights is that they have very heavy duty framing and supports that can't be easily crushed or apparently recycled. I don't know the reason for this, but all of the LED lights I've seen seem to be very solidly built.

The other aspect of LED lights that I don't like is their cost. Without the CL&P discount, it's hard to justify a $40 LED bulb instead of a $1 incandescent bulb. I'm sure the cost will come down over time, but it's a hard nut to swallow.

With all of the benefits of LED lights, I was ready to invest in replacing all of the recessed lights in my kitchen with LEDs. That's about 13 lights altogether.

Even though the cost would have been more than $250, I really like what LEDs offer.

So, back I went to Costco only to find that the bulbs were no longer in stock, no one could tell me when they'd be available, and I can't find the bulbs at costco.com — or any other online retailer.

I guess my CFLs will have to stay with me until the LED bulbs become more than a one-time sale at Costco.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 6 April 2011.

Adult Content Domain — .xxx — is on the Way

2011-03-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

Last Friday (18 March 2011), the group that sets standards for Internet addresses approved the creation of domains that end in .xxx for "adult content."

We're all familiar with domains that end in .com, .net and .org. These domains encompass many of the companies and organization we know, such as nike.com, redcross.org, westport-news.com and others.

There has been a push for a number of years to put "adult content" — some interpret this to mean pornography — in a separate area of the Internet that lets people access it or not. Part of this push has been to create the .xxx domain.

The decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — ICANN — has prompted both positive and negative response.

Companies whose business is adult entertainment now have a location where they can place their products and services, and people who go to those locations would expect to see X-rated material.

Parents now have a domain they may choose to block from their families' access. Of course, there is nothing that requires adult content to use a .xxx web address, so there's no guarantee that people won't stumble onto adult content.

There's also no strict definition to what constitutes adult content. One person's PG-13 content may be someone else's XXX content.

I haven't yet seen any domain registrar's offering .xxx registrations, but I expect many people will reserve the .xxx domain simply so that it's not used by someone else for purposes not to their liking. For example, I would imagine that all Fortune 500 companies would reserve the .xxx domain to prevent inappropriate use of their trademarks.

My guess is that there still will be adult content all over the Internet, but for companies who create .xxx sites, there will be little doubt about the kind of content to be found there.

At a business or home, Internet access can be configured to allow or disallow access to .xxx sites. This should give people at least a slightly better chance to control access to inappropriate content than we currently have.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 23 March 2011.

The Toughest Job in Tech

2011-03-08T13:59:00.000-08:00

Every profession has its difficulties. Technology is no different. But my experience is that the toughest job in technology is that of telephone tech support.

These are the men and women who are there for us when our gadgets and gizmos don't work the way we want. Usually, these people are sitting in a room full of cubicles with others like them answering the phone when people call in.

The challenges these people have to deal with fall into two categories: Technical and personal.

The technical ones usually amount to one of the following items: The device in question does what the caller wants, but the caller can't figure it out (or hasn't read the manual), the device doesn't do what the caller wants because the device is broken, the device doesn't do what the caller wants because it wasn't installed properly or the device doesn't want to do what the caller wants because of a conflict with something else.

On the personal side, the challenge is that people are calling tech support because they're not happy. Their gadget doesn't work. That's an unfortunate way to start a call. Depending on the personality of the caller and the training of the support tech, things can go very well or not.

One of the biggest challenges that a tech support person faces is not being able to know the history of the gadget. In particular, what led up to the user calling in? What has been tried before? Did the user do something (intentionally or unintentionally) wrong?

Over the past few years, remote connections to computers have become more commonplace for support staff and that has helped dramatically when it comes to troubleshooting, but that works well for laptop and desktop computers, but not mobile phones, DVRs and most other devices.

I've done my fair share of tech support. Not in a call center, but for either people in my companies or friends. I have a lot of respect for these people who can do it day in and day out.

For most tech support work, it's a thankless job. There are no greeting cards for telephone tech support people. If the tech support person can find a solution for you, people often are angry that they had to call in the first place. If the tech support person can't find a solution for you, the callers can become even more frustrated.

What I find out works well is to provide them with as much up front information as possible, including screen shots of what's happening or not happening whenever possible. I also try to provide them with the make, model and even serial number of whatever device I'm trying to troubleshoot.

Given our tech world, it's inevitable that you'll spend some time on the phone with a tech support person. When you do, give them as much help as you can and you'll have the best experience that is possible given the reason for your call.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 8 March 2011.

Does the Internet Have an "Off" Switch?

2011-02-23T08:55:00.000-08:00

The Internet used to be a quaint thing that only academics and geeks used to know about. Now, it is, for all intents and purposes, a utility, much like electricity and gas. Everyone uses it, whether they realize it or not.

Of course, children just assume it's always been there. Adults have come to accept it as part of their lives. Businesses now rely on it as a way business is conducted.

Many years ago, computer systems were centralized in large data centers and if a data center went offline, that was bad. In fact, it could put our national security at risk.

The Internet was designed to be resilient to attacks by making servers be able to work in multiple places simultaneously and the data communications path to a specific computer be flexible in case the circuit was cut or otherwise unavailable. As a result, the Internet is up essentially all the time.

But is there an Internet "off" switch?

We've seen recently in Egypt that the government was able to shut down the Internet when there were uprisings. Part of the public's ability to mobilize themselves was that they had the communication abilities of the Internet. News reports reached the world because everyone with a cell phone was able to make video and still photo reports and send them — unfiltered — to the world.

Yet the Egyptian government controlled the telecommunications for the country and so was able to turn off the Internet.

China's government similarly controls all Internet traffic, especially what it allows its residents to see outside of China.

I don't know whether there is similar control of the Internet here in the United States, but I do know that the services that we've come to rely on would be severely hampered if the Internet were to be turned off.

Here are some examples of things we now rely on: Telephone service, television service, news and information, weather reports, online business transactions, travel information, medical information. The list goes on.

In another vein, the GPS navigation satellite system that we all rely on is owned and operated by the United States government. It's used globally by motorists, airlines, delivery companies, emergency responders and many other businesses. And, yes, the United States government has said in a time of emergency it would disable the GPS satellites.

This is one of the reasons why the European Union has put together its Galileo project, which is an alternative to the American GPS satellites.

Both the Internet and GPS are now essential parts of the global lives. Let's hope we never have to know if there's really an "off" switch.

Update: Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal about a bill in the United States senate titled "Cybersecurity and Internet Freedom Act of 2011" to provide an official "kill switch" to the Internet: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/02/18/new-cyber-security-bill-kills-the-kill-switch/?blog_id=100&post_id=21955.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 23 February 2011.

Coupons in the Digital Age

2011-02-09T07:33:00.000-08:00

Using coupons has been something we've all done at one time or another. Everyone likes to save money or spend a little less on something.

Most of us use coupons occasionally, while others are so good at it that they can spend pennies on the dollar for items being promoted.

Two services that do very well for consumers are www.groupon.com and www.livingsocial.com. Each delivers a deal, typically on a daily basis, that offers about 50 percent off on a product or service through a local vendor.

Some of the local deals I've been offered include restaurants, car washes and outdoor events. Not all of them are something I want, but when they've clicked for me, they've been great. To use the coupon, sign up for the deal, pay the stated amount and you are e-mailed a file to print and use.

In every case when I've used these coupons, the merchants have known of them and there have been no problems.

Another service I use is www.restaurant.com. Their typical offer is a $25 coupon for $10. It's not unusual to see discounts as high as 90 percent. Again, you buy a coupon for a certain amount, then receive a file that you print and take to the merchant.

One service that I've used for years is called www.idine.com. For a few years, they were called Rewards Network. For $50 per year, you register any number of credit cards. Then, whenever you use one of your credit cards at a participating vendor, you receive anywhere from 6 to 50 percent as a rebate on the total cost of your charge — food, beverage, tax and tip. Typical rebates are 10 percent.

What's nice about iDine is that there's no coupon to buy, print or present to the merchant. The rebate used to be issued as a credit to your credit card, but iDine has started sending out rebate cards in the form of cash cards, which I find less appealing.

If you're looking more for traditional coupons, try www.redplum.com for a broad variety of coupons that you can clip.

There are plenty of other coupon sites on the Internet, often appealing to niche interests. Google your favorite subject and include the word "coupon" and you'll be amazed at what comes up.

For me, these discounts — especially at the 50 percent level — get my attention. And I'm pleased with the number of area merchants participating. It's been great to meet and experience some new places — and make doing things with my family more affordable.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 9 February 2011.

Life Without TV

2011-01-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

I've been fascinated by the demise of what we call TV. By that, I mean entertainment being delivered to us over the air or more typically over a cable or satellite to our home by major networks such as ABC, CBS and NBC with a schedule that they determine.

While I grew up knowing that my favorite shows were going to be on TV on a specific night on a specific channel at a specific time and that if I didn't see it when it was broadcast, I probably wouldn't see it for months until it was on again as a rerun.

Those days are long gone.

Starting with home VCR, people started being able to "time shift." That meant that they could set up their VCR to record a show when it was broadcast and then watch it when they wanted to. This meant handling lots of videotapes, but it worked remarkably well.

The advent of DVRs, such as cable boxes and most notably TiVo boxes, made it much easier to manage larger quantities of shows. The devices themselves even know the broadcast schedule and you can easily program the devices to record the shows you want.

But the biggest change I've seen is the emergence of sites that deliver entertainment across the Internet. These sites have such names as YouTube, Hulu, Netflix and more. Many of the major networks also deliver their content (mainly the "prime time" content) over the internet at their own sites, such as abc.com, cbs.com and nbc.com, albeit usually 24 or more hours after the original broadcast.

In addition, there is now hardware that supports these and other services, including Roku, AppleTV, Sony's PlayStation and more.

What's interesting is that none of these services use the traditional broadcast methods for delivering content. It's all done over the Internet.

Which leads me — and many others — to ask: Why do we need cable TV?

Virtually every show that is broadcast is available from an alternate source. The usual difference is that it's not available on the Internet until about 24 hours after it's broadcast.

But if I rarely sit down to watch a TV show when it's broadcast, do I care? The answer for many people is no.

With people paying typically $40 or more per month for cable TV service, it's an attractive thought to drop the cable TV service in favor of going with one or more of the Internet-based services.

The question is, is this going to save anyone any money? I don't think it will. Here's why.

Most of the services have a fee. Netflix starts at $7.99/month, Hulu Plus costs $7.99/month, Apple TV typically charges 99 cents per episode.

It's quite possible that by adding up a few services, plus some pay-per-view fees, you'll end up paying more than you do on a monthly basis for cable TV. Obviously, this depends on your viewing habits and for some people they could save some good money and for others this may cost them quite a bit more.

What you won't be dropping is the Internet service to your home. If anything, people will be upgrading to higher speeds that cost more money.

So, while I hear that some people are dropping their cable TV service in favor of all-Internet TV, I can't say that our household is ready to make that move — yet.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 26 January 2011.

New Year's Tech Resolutions

2011-01-05T03:35:00.000-08:00

The start of a new year is a great time to make resolutions and goals. These goals are typically to improve one's life, relationships, break old habits or somehow make the new year better than the previous one.

Here are a few tech resolutions that you can take advantage of. If you're already doing them, great. If you're not, then here's an easy checklist.

#1. Backup your computer's data.

Always high on people's lists, this has typically been not only a pain to do, but now it's a no-brainer. While there are now 2TB (terabyte) disk drives that you can copy oodles of data to locally, I still opt for the automatic online services such as Mozy and Carbonite that can store your files in a remote data center and let you retrieve your files anytime you want. Cost for this is about $50 per computer per year.

#2. Ensure your anti-virus/anti-spyware software is up-to-date.

While I'm a fan of the Norton products from Symantec, the McAfee and other software works quite well. There's also Microsoft's Defender application that's built into Windows computers from Vista forward. If it's not turned on, turn it on.

#3. Update your operating system and applications with the latest fixes and patches.

If you're a Windows user, go to update.microsoft.com and check for any pending updates. Also, ensure that automatic updating is turned on so that you'll be notified and receive the latest software updates from Microsoft as they're released. They're free and generally improve security and sometimes performance.

#4. If your computer is a couple of years old and seems to be running slowly, consider refreshing your computer.

This can be a complicated process, but it restores your computer to its factory settings, deletes all of the extra — and typically unused — software that has been downloaded. What most people will see is a 25 to 50 percent speed increase on their computer. Note that this requires you to save all of your data and applications that you want to restore, so only embark upon this if you're comfortable performing such backups and restores.

#5. Get rid of some items.

I tend to accumulate too much stuff and not retire enough. Look around your home or office and find items that aren't serving you well. Printers, PDAs, old camcorders. Can you move its function to something else so that you can eliminate one or more items? Simpler environments tend to run with the fewest problems. Strive for simplicity.

Following these few items can be very helpful in providing you with a more pleasant tech environment. Happy 2011!

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 5 January 2011.

Technology Can Never Replace the Personal Touch

2011-01-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

While driving with my 12-year-old in the car the other day, she was helping to navigate by using the maps function of my Apple iPhone. I looked at her and asked: "Do you realize that what you have in your hand is magic?"

She looked at me and asked: "What?"

I responded by saying: "I remember when we used to travel that it was essentially a quiet zone. We didn't have telephones, we navigated by maps and occasionally got lost. If we had a flat tire or our car broke down, we had to rely on the graciousness of a passerby to give us a ride — or fix the tire/engine/whatever ourselves."

I continued with, "When we left one person's home, we'd often times call the other person to let them know we were leaving and kind of give them our best guesstimate of when we'd arrive. However, that person never really knew when we'd arrive. We could be a half hour early or four hours late and they had no way of knowing."

Just to really slam the point home, I told her about what it was like picking someone up from the airport. "We never really knew when the plane would land. Neither did the airline or airport. Real-time flight tracking was something only air traffic control did and they didn't have the time or technologies to let common folk like me have access. This meant that when we headed to the airport, we never know when the plane would arrive — or if it had been delayed, detoured, canceled, or otherwise changed."

Of course, while I was trying to make my point about what it was like when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, she was busy texting her friends and playing a game on a different device. The days of looking at the world around us while we travel are long gone, I guess.

All of this technology discussion is really about how much technology we use not only every day, but especially around the holidays. Everything from how we communicate with our friends and family, how we are able to get together with them (something I hope we never do only virtually), to the numerous technology gifts that are given and received during the holidays.

While I expect that there will be a number of digital gadgets in and around our family this holiday season, the magic that means the most is something that no technology can provide: an event with loved ones, a meal together, a walk on a sunny brisk day, making a snowman, sliding down a snowy hill.

So as you consider your technology gifts, consider how they will help you connect with the people who are important in your life. Will it bring you memories that you can cherish now and in a few years? Will it let you see how people have grown over the years? Will it give someone a smile when they open it and use it in the future?

For our family, the gifts of experiences and memories are the ones we're giving to each other this year — whether they require technology or not.

Happy holidays to everyone.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 29 December 2010.

How Fast is Fast?

2010-11-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

We've come to expect high speed Internet service in our homes and just about anywhere.

The days when I was dialing up on a phone line and a modem I thought was pretty impressive. I even recall making my very first phone call over a (fast at the time) dial-up connection saying to myself: This making phone calls over the Internet will never fly.

Well, most homes here have high speed Internet connections, typically provided by Cablevision. The standard service is about 12 Mbps download speed and 2 Mbps upload speed.

Cablevision offers higher speeds through their "Boost" service that yields 30 Mbps download speed and 5 Mbps upload speed. Cablevision always says their speeds are "up to" a certain amount.

But due to some work I've been doing lately, I decided to opt for Cablevision's "Ultra" service that offers 101 Mbps download speed and 15 Mbps upload speed. Again, the numbers are "up to."

The biggest difference with these services — other than the speed — is the price. The basic Optimum Online service is about $45/month. The Boost service is an extra $9.95 per month. The Ultra service is about $99/month. The Ultra service also requires a $300 activation fee plus a $34.95 installation fee.

So when the Cablevision installer arrived Sunday morning, the installation included a new cable modem and went quite well. As I also have Optimum Voice, he had to leave a second cable modem, since the cable modem that supports Optimum Ultra doesn't support Cablevision's voice service.

After the cable modem powered up, we tested it from one of my computers. We received 35 Mbps download speed and 15 Mbps upload. Quite a disappointment from the 101 Mbps advertised.

The technician suggested that I plug a computer directly into the cable modem. By doing so, the Internet speed jumped to a blazing 75 Mbps download and the 15 Mbps upload. Much better, but that meant that could only run one computer at a time off of my home network.

What I've determined is that my Motorola router provided with my Vonage service is probably not capable of handling the high speed connection that Cablevision provides. I've reached out to Vonage to see if they have a replacement router that I can use, but I have found that downloads throughout my home network are substantially faster, including web page loads and e-mails. (Update: after replacing my router, download speeds typically measure higher than 80 Mbps.)

Within a few years, we'll all be expecting Internet speeds higher than the 100 Mbps that is considered really fast now. Google has been offering to provide Gigabit Ethernet (1,000 Mbps) to people's homes on an experimental basis.

But for now, I'm enjoying the ability to get my work done faster.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 30 November 2010.

Indoor Games

2010-11-10T05:09:00.000-08:00

Before I hear people saying I'm trying to turn their families into couch potatoes, let me say now that I much prefer outdoor moving around games to ones played in front of a screen. But as winter comes upon us, some days it not only better, but safer to stay indoors.

What has been very good is the creation of video games that actually engage people more than just their fingers and thumbs on the controllers.

Nintendo's Wii system introduced the first commercially successful gaming system that got people out of their chairs and involved with the games. While its video wasn't up to the high definition that many of us now take for granted, the games are very successful in a broad range of ages and interests.

For example, the Wii system has exercise games for all age levels and has sports games crossing a similar broad spectrum of people.

This year, Sony released the "Move" add-on for its PlayStation 3 device. The Move controllers are similar to the Wii in that they're wireless, but they have an optical aspect and include a small camera that watches you move and play. To identify the different controllers, the Move controllers have a colored light on top the size of a ping pong ball that turns a color when connected to the PlayStation.

The Move system is still quite new and has very few games, but expect quite a few just in time for the holiday season.

The latest entrant into the move-around-the-room gaming space is Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360. Instead of having controllers that you hold, the Kinect actually watches you move with a number of lenses that track your motion and even recognize your face.

Each one of these systems has created a new way to play.

Right now, these systems tend to focus on sports and activities that require significant motor skills. And, on a cold, wintry day, these can be great fun.

I fully expect that as we see these technologies in consumer electronics, we'll see many other uses, say to teach a skill such as knitting, SCUBA diving, driver training and more.

I even expect at one point, these could be used to help you assemble that Ikea bookshelf that you just bought or help would-be-Santas assemble the toys on Christmas Eve.

If the weather outside is yucky, one of these game machines can make the day a bit brighter. But if the weather is good, nothing beats a wonderful day of running around outside.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 10 November 2010.

My Cursor is a Banana

2010-10-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

While sitting at the dinner table the other night, my 5-year-old son looked at me and quite seriously told me: "My cursor is a banana."

Understanding every word he said, yet having no clue as to what he meant, I looked across the table at him and asked: "What?" to which he responded: "Yes, my sister helped me do it."

Still not understanding what he was saying, I asked him to show me.

He then pointed to the computer we have in our kitchen and said: "My sister helped me make my cursor into a banana."

I immediately understood that he and his sister had changed one of the "themes" of his computer login so that the various icons and colors now had a fruit and vegetable look and feel. And, indeed, the cursor is now a banana.

This started me thinking about what I talked about with my father when I was five years old.

For starters, the only "cursor" I knew of was people who needed their mouths washed out with soap.

But I started thinking about how different our children's lives are than ours. Here are a few items:

Children today don't know of a life without the Internet. It's just "there" and is as much a part of their home life and education as food, books and clothing.
Entertainment is now on demand and plentiful. With hundreds of television channels and the ability to watch what you want when you want, it's quite literally impossible to consume all of the content that they want.
Libraries are vastly different. They're no longer a place you go to do research. Not only is the entire Internet a library of sorts, but our traditional libraries are evolving into community centers.
Instant gratification is the norm. My children now expect that when we take a photo or video, they can see it immediately. The idea of taking film to be processed and receiving it back a few days later is foreign to them.
Music may never actually be handled other than on a device that plays it. Specifically, our children may never hold a record or even a Compact Disc. The idea of a record "skipping" is not part of their lives.
They will always be able to make a phone call wherever they are.
Terrorism is a domestic issue, and 9/11 occurred during the lifetime of most of our children.

As I watch my children and the children in my life, I'm glad to see that they do share some of the same experiences, such as:

Nobody needs to tell a child to put pitted olives on their fingers;
Jumping in a leaf pile still gives great joy;
Balls for every sport mean instant fun; and
A large cardboard box can still be a spaceship, fort, house, boat or any other adventure.

As much as I want my children to have some of the same experiences I did, it's clear to me that their lives will be vastly different as a result of the changes in technology. In many ways, their experiences will be richer. In other ways, I think they'll miss out on some important lessons.

Luckily, the lessons of humanity are what really count. I hope that all children can balance technology and humanity as they grow up. It's an exciting road to travel with our children.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 27 October 2010.

Internet Access Anywhere

2010-10-13T04:51:00.000-07:00

Many of us have become used to having Internet access wherever we go. It's no longer sufficient to have Internet access in our homes and offices.

Whether we're at the beach, at a park, in the car, on a train and even in an airplane, we are becoming accustomed to having Internet access.

Most people's mobile device (we used to call them cell phones) can send and receive e-mails and most can even have a built-in Web browser to do something resembling surfing the Internet.

The browsers built into mobile devices are not known for their robust web-surfing capabilities. I still rely heavily on my laptop computer for much of the work I do. I like a full-size keyboard and screen and don't mind carrying around a computer case in most circumstances.

Yet, somehow, my laptop computer seems like a second-class citizen because it doesn't typically have its own built-in Internet access.

To address this, there are many options for people to obtain Internet access just about wherever they are.

First, if you have a device with a data plan from a provider (mobile devices are typical examples of this), you have Internet access wherever the provider has towers. And, you have to pay for this. These plans tend to be OK for doing general e-mail and web browsing, but not much more. The current leader is what's called 3G technology, but 4G (generally referring to the 3rd and 4th Generation of wireless technology) is coming out, Sprint being the first with 4G service in some geographies (not Westport yet).

Second, most devices now have WiFi built-in. About 50 percent of the time, you can find an open WiFi hot spot where you can jump on someone's WiFi. The Town of Westport has a number of areas where it offers free WiFi, such as Compo Beach, the library and the train station. Many merchants also offer WiFi, but sometimes there's a fee to use it.

WiFi can provide speeds about as fast as the local provider's Internet service, but is subject to dropping signals and varying speeds depending on what distance and obstacles are between you and the WiFi antenna.

Third, my favorite Internet access is the old fashioned copper cable stuff that you usually find in homes and offices. While the wiring is harder and more expensive to put in than wireless solutions, it does provide the fastest, most secure solution. It's also the least mobile.

This is where things get interesting. When you take your computer with you, you have a few options for connecting to the Internet. When you take your computer and your mobile device with you, your options increase dramatically.

If you don't have a wired or WiFi connection you can jump onto, but your mobile device has a data plan, you could be in good shape.

One way is called "tethering" where you actually put a cable between your wireless device and your laptop computer and your computer talks to the Internet through your mobile device. Most wireless carriers offer ways to tie your data plan to your computer. This runs anywhere from $5 to $40 per month on top of your normal plan.

Other carriers have a feature to turn your mobile device into a WiFi hot spot. This lets you and typically up to four or five others to use your mobile device to access the Internet. The good news is that multiple people can use the signal. The bad news is that the already slow speed is slowed even further by multiple people. The really bad news is that using your mobile device as a WiFi hot spot can run the battery dead in under two hours. Oh, and there's typically a monthly fee for this service, too. Another option is to pick up something like a MyFi that is a standalone WiFi hotspot that's not tied to any mobile device. Wherever you go, if there's a mobile signal from your carrier, you have Internet service. Service plans for these run between $40 and $60 per month.

My favorite option is a product called PDANet from an oddly named company called June Fabrics (www.junefabrics.com). For a one-time $30 software license fee, you can download the software to your mobile device and laptop computer and piggyback off your mobile device's data plan for no extra monthly charges. Alas, iPhone users are not able to do any of the above without "jailbreaking" their phone, a practice frowned upon by Apple.

The dream of ubiquitous Internet is getting nearer. Right now, it just takes a bit of creativity to build it for yourself.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 13 October 2010.

TV is Dead

2010-09-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

OK, I've said it. As a boy who grew up watching far more television than I would like to admit, TV is dead.

I remember the doldrums of summer reruns and having to watch the shows I'd already seen, but with the teasers of a brand new season that started about the time I was going back to school.

I remember the excitement of a new theme song for a TV show and new episodes of my favorite characters when the new season started.

I remember wanting to schedule my time at home so I could see a favorite show, because that's when it was being broadcast and I wanted to be able to talk to my friends about it the next day.

As the youngest member of my family, I remember being the "human remote control" ("Mark, go change the channel") — or the "human antenna" ("Mark, hold onto the rabbit ears, because the picture is best when you do it.").

I remember when the only place we could watch television was in the living room or family room — wherever there happened to be the only TV in the house.

I remember when any channel above 13 — what was called UHF — was considered sub-standard at best. Anything that was good was on somewhere from channel 2 to channel 13.

Needless to say, I'm dating myself.

Perhaps the biggest change was time shifting. This occurs when people can record a show and watch it when they want to. VCRs brought this into existence and heralded a significant change in people's viewing habits and the entertainment industry as a whole.

Time shifting has gone far beyond VCRs to include DVRs (digital video recorders) — some even being provided by the cable companies themselves. But most of the major networks, such as ABC, CBS and NBC now offer viewing of major shows through their websites or through their affiliate sites such as Hulu.com or even YouTube.com.

Cable TV also caused a major change in the way television is viewed, bringing far more channels to the typical viewer than was available over the air via the antenna on one's roof. Interestingly, cable TV is being seen by some as declining, in favor of Internet-based television and streaming video.

The point to all of this is that television used to be entertainment that we consumed that was dictated by someone who set the schedule for when we would be entertained. That's simply not the case anymore.

The new watchword is: on-demand. People can now watch television, movies, events, classes and any other items when they want and where they want.

That part about "where they want" is also huge. Again, it used to be that television was consumed from either a living room of family room in a home.

The number of screens that people have has exploded. With a typical home having at least one screen per family member (TV plus computers) plus smart phones (iPhones, Android, BlackBerry and others) that allow streaming of video, plus tablet computers (iPads most notably), the ability to watch content is far easier.

Most of these computer devices are also mobile. With wireless Internet services, it's essentially possible to enjoy entertainment wherever you happen to be.

Entertainment is alive and well. In fact, the amount of content being produced continues to increase dramatically. What is changing is how people consume the content and how people get paid for it. These are two huge challenges for the entertainment industry and I have no doubt that the models will emerge that will make entertainment viable for years to come.

But, for now, I'm glad I don't have to stand by my old television and hold the rabbit ears.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 28 September 2010.

Whole House Internet

2010-09-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

Ah, remember the days when an Internet connection meant plugging your phone line into your computer's modem port and you had to dial up and listen to the funny tones as the modems connected? And you could use the Internet in your home anywhere you had a phone line that you didn't mind tying up for hours on end?

Oh, and you probably only had one computer in your home. And maybe even only one phone line.

Needless to say, very few people would find that an acceptable way of life nowadays.

For the typical home, we want high-speed, always-on Internet access everywhere in our home -- and perhaps even outside, too. It's not unusual for people to want Internet access in their garden, on the patio, by the swimming pool, or even in the garage.

So how does one distribute Internet access throughout the home?

Now it's expected that high speed, always on Internet access will be available throughout one's home.

If you have a relatively new home (less than 10 years old), the builder probably installed what's called "structured wiring." This distributes many different types of wires throughout your home. These wires can be Coaxial (sometimes called "coax") which is used primarily for cable TV signals and standard four-conductor phone wire.

Other types include unshielded twisted pair (UTP), sometimes Cat 5, Cat5e, or Cat 6, depending on its rated speed (the bigger the number the faster the rated speed). UTP is also mistakenly called Ethernet cable. Although UTP can carry Ethernet signals, it's also used for analog phone signals and other applications.

The final type of cable that I sometime see is fiber optic. This delivers ultra high speeds, but frankly, is still largely unused to its capacity in most homes. Plus some of the equipment to work with fiber is still far more expensive than working with other types of cables.

My recommendation when people ask me about the technology for their home is to put in as many cables as they can reasonably expect, especially for networking and whole house audio and video. Either as part of that or in conjunction with installing lots of cables, use conduits that allow wires to easily be added when a new technology comes along that requires a new type of cable.

So, for people where their homes are fairly new, distributing Internet access to various parts of the home is pretty straightforward. Simply plug your computer into your Ethernet ports in your various rooms and you're off and running.

But what about the rest of us who don't have cabling throughout our homes? We really have three options:

First, string cables to wherever we need them. Depending on your home's configuration, this can be easy or hard. If you have attic and basement space and both are unfinished, it's not too difficult to run new cables to many locations. This is my first choice for both speed and reliability.

Second, go wireless. Install a wireless access point such as the Linksys WAP610N ($109.99). There are various wireless standards, each with its own letter. The most popular are A, B, G, and N. B and G are the most popular, but N is the newest and fastest. Look for a wireless access point that supports all three standards. Many routers include wireless capabilities.

The problem with wireless is that it doesn't like going through anything except air. Ceilings, walls, floors, refrigerators and distance all reduce the speed and reliability of wireless connections. So, if your wireless access point is in the basement, even being upstairs in the kitchen will degrade the signal noticeably.

Third, use your home's electrical wires for data. While we may not have structured wiring in our homes, we all have electrical wires in our homes. Networking companies have figured out a way to send Ethernet signals across our home wiring and it works quite well.

By using a technology dubbed Powerline, you can plug in a device to your Ethernet switch and then a wall socket. Plug a companion product elsewhere in your home and you have extended your Ethernet network in a reliable way. If you want to plug in a wireless access point in the remote room, you've avoided all of the walls and other interference that's inherent in wireless networks. A Powerline kit I've used is the Linksys PLK-300 ($124.99).

I've always been a fan of copper wire for its speed and security, but by combining wired and wireless technology, it's pretty easy to provide high-speed, always-on Internet access throughout your home.

From now on, may the only time you hear the sound of a squawking modem connecting be in the movies.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 15 September 2010.

The Art of Making Things

2010-09-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

I've always been in awe of people who can make things, whether it be a paper airplane, a wooden table, an automobile, a home, a rocket ship, a bridge, or even a pyramid.

Each one of these things started as an idea and then someone had to figure out what materials were needed, the tools required to make it, how to fold, cut, stack, glue, or staple the pieces together, and then enlist other people to help them.

When the project is completed, if the item works as intended, that's a huge accomplishment.

But people don't build as much stuff as they used to. The days of the woodshop in the garage are numbered. The days of people working on their own cars are numbered, too. And the most recent pyramid built is more of a temple to gambling gods in Las Vegas, a stark contrast to its predecessor's truly otherwordly purposes.

Luckily, we still have good carpenters who not only fix stuff in our homes, but also build fine furniture. We still have good mechanics who not only fix our cars, but who experiment on how to make lower emissions, convert energy to horsepower, reduce drag and increase acceleration.

The days of the tinkerer are seemingly over. So when Make magazine (www.makezine.com) came out a few years ago, I was overjoyed. It's a magazine for do-it-yourselfers who like to build stuff.

Typically, projects in Make are geared around electronics, but not always.

For example, in the current issue, Volume 23, there are articles on how to make a "Mosquito Death Ray;" hacking a toilet plunger to push, not pull; how to use an infrared thermometer; favorite gadgets, and more.

In previous issues, I've seen projects such as how to use a kite and a camera to take aerial photos and arrays of LEDs that kids can not only build, but also program.

With many of the projects, there are references where you can download the instructions and even companies that will sell you the kits, so it's more of an example of assembling parts rather than trying to scrounge them from different stores.

One project I find particularly ingenious is what the magazine calls "The Most Useless Machine." Basically, it's a box with a switch on top. When you turn the switch on, an arm comes out and turns the switch off, then it goes back into the box.

If you recall the toy bank that, when you put a quarter in a slot, a hand came out and grabbed it, this is pretty similar.

The difference is that with Make magazine, you not only read about it, but you can learn how to build one, often with basic tools.

I'm a strong advocate that we need to build more stuff. It's valuable learning for children and adults to know how things work, how to solve problems, and understand the basics of mechanics and electricity.

Make magazine also puts on a series of events called Maker Faire (see: http://makerfaire.com/newyork/2010/). Maker Faires are where do-it-yourselfers bring things they've made, whether they be machines, computers, Rube Goldberg contraptions, rockets, flamethrowers, boats, gadgets, or much more. Here's a link to a video from a 2009 Maker Faire -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45xt-3Z5MI4

The first east coast event is happening on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 25 and 26, in Queens, N.Y. I've not been to a Maker Faire, but am looking to attending this one. Not only are the items there fascinating, but the creativity, imagination and ingenuity that has gone into these items incredible. It's an inspiration to see first-hand that our ability to think and create is still alive.

For kids, it's a great opportunity to see things that ordinary people have built. Much like the television show CSI gets children interested in science, Make magazine and Maker Faires can expose children to other areas of interest that could spark imagination in them.

One of these days, pick up a copy of Make magazine and follow the instructions to build something. It might be the start of something great for your family. And you may discover an artist in your family.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 1 September 2010.

Digital Etiquette

2010-08-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

First, let me start by saying I'm no "Emily Post" or "Dear Abby." But it's often said that one of the biggest problems people have is communicating with each other.

My experience is that face-to-face communications offer the best opportunity to connect, because they involve visual (seeing the person), audio (hearing the person, especially the inflections in their voice), the ability to interact (ask questions and receive responses) quickly, and even touch (it's amazing what a handshake or an appropriate touch can mean).

For better or for worse, our electronic communications can both help and hinder our ability to communicate with other people. Certainly, electronic communications can allow us to communicate over broader distances faster, but it means we won't be face to face.

We've had challenges with communications since people existed on this planet. When we started writing letters to each other, there was the challenge of saying the right thing. Telephones provided more immediacy and the ability to tell nuance, but still was less information than face to face.

Here are some of my observations and experiences of things that have happened to me that have been less-than-effective ways of communicating in a digital age.

What day is that? I see many people saying something like: "Call me tomorrow" or "Let's meet today."

The use of relative dates rarely adds clarity. Specifically, if someone writes a message on Tuesday asking about calling you tomorrow, but you don't see the message until Wednesday, then tomorrow for them is Wednesday, but for you it might be Thursday. Oops. I find I avoid using relative dates or at least qualify them by saying: "Call me tomorrow (Wednesday)." Better yet, simply say: "Call me on Wednesday."

E-mail

Subject lines needs to be very effective. If I receive an e-mail with a subject line of "A note from Susie", that tells me nothing. For me, the subject line should explain the bottom line of the message, such as "Cheerleading Practice Moved from Tuesday to Wednesday This Week Only." The body of the e-mail can tell me why or who to contact, but I need e-mails with a useful subject line or they risk being unopened.

Who are You? I frequently receive emails from people with cryptic e-mail addresses, such as kittenlover74@gmail.com. Who is that? They then either don't sign their name or sign it simply: Susan. I happen to know a lot of people named Susan. Which Susan are you? One of the things I learned as a marketer is to always make it easy for people to contact you. Always sign e-mail messages with your full name and phone number. If this is hard to remember to do, set up your e-mail client to insert what's called a "Signature Block" that will put this information at the bottom of each email. Don't make people guess about your identity.

Voicemail

How Can I Contact you? I frequently receive voicemails from people saying something like: "Hi, this is Sally. Call me to let me know about this Thursday."

Optionally, they may add: "You have my number."

Again, people assume we know who they are and that's usually true, but if I'm picking up a message for my wife or other member of my family, I may have no clue who Sally is. Leave your first and last name. As far as returning a call, I don't always have someone's phone number. Take an extra few seconds and leave your phone number.

How Fast Can You Talk? When people do leave a phone number, why is it that they seem to double or triple the speed of their speech? If anything, speaking slowly and clearly when leaving a phone number is a good thing. Even if you do speak slowly and clearly, the prevalence of mobile phones and the inherent lack of good audio quality has prompted me to not only speak slowly and clearly, but repeat the phone number to ensure that any audio glitch won't prevent someone from hearing my phone number.

We will always have to work at communicating better, but let's not make it harder for people to understand what we're trying to say.

Remember, hearing you and understanding you are two different things. The best message is one that's received and understood as the sender had intended. That responsibility mainly lies with the sender, not the receiver.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 18 August 2010.

Technology in the Loo

2010-08-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

OK, I get it, talking about the bathroom is embarrassing. Some might legitimately ask why I'd spend time writing about technology in the bathroom.

The answer is really simple: there's some very interesting stuff going on in there.

What's also interesting is that some of the most dramatic technological innovations aren't taking place in America.

The Japanese, in particular, are legendary in their toilets. Everything from sprays and nozzles and air blowers and music and ... well, just Google "Japanese toilet technology" and see what pops up.

The subject is so well established that there's even a Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) entry on it.

But I wanted to talk about two technologies: automatic faucets and hand drying.

I first encountered automatic faucets in Germany back in the early 1980s. I didn't see them here in the U.S. for about another 10 years.

Automatic faucets generally turn on water faucets, but they can also be used for toilets and urinals. Typically, they have a motion sensor that detects when something is nearby.

In the case of a sink faucet, the detector turns on when it detects something nearby. In the case of a toilet, the detector waits until the object leaves before it activates.

I always wondered how these faucets work. I thought they'd either be electrical or mechanical, or a combination of both. In particular, the little sensor must require some sort of electrical power, as does the opening and closing of a valve, which could take a lot of juice.

I had wondered if the actual flow of the water would spin a little propeller, which would either charge a battery or arm a mechanism that could perform the opening and closing of the valve.

While that might be the case, most instances of automatic valves are simply battery-operated and the battery reportedly lasts about three years before it needs to be replaced.

The battery model is a great method for installing faucets in existing restrooms, as sinks typically don't have electricity available.

For new construction, the faucet companies also allow low voltage power with a battery back-up.

The value of automatic valves, of course, is to help prevent the spread of germs and disease in public restrooms.

My completely unscientific poll indicates that in most populated places in the U.S., automatic faucets have overtaken manual ones in public restrooms.

The other bit of bathroom technology is the lowly hand dryer.

Years ago, I was in a restroom with one of the old dryers where you'd push the big metal button and it would blow warm air on your hands. The dryer has two instructions printed on it: 1. Press button; and 2. Rub hands under warm air. Someone had written a third instruction: 3. Wipe hands on pants.

While I don't approve of this sort of vandalism, the person was right. The old-fashioned hand dryers simply don't work -- at least not in the timeframe that most people are willing to spend drying their hands.

But there are two devices that work pretty well.

XLERATOR (http://www.exceldryer.com/) -- This device is based on the fact that the volume of air over hands is far more important than the temperature of the air. Stick your hand under an XLERATOR dryer and it's like sticking your hand out of the car window at 60 mph.

The other device that works very well is the Dyson airblade (http://www.dysonairblade.com/homepage.asp).

Rather than having a single nozzle that shoots out air, the Dyson airblade shoots air on the top and bottom of your hands as you wave your hands through the air blades. The air from the airblade isn't nearly as fast as the XLERATOR, but it does cover more skin.

Both of these hand-drying solutions are welcome improvements over the old push button hand dryers. I rarely have to wipe my hands on my pants anymore.

As technology continues to become more and more a part of our lives, it doesn't take too much imagination to see how technology will continue to enter our restrooms. Just peek across the Pacific Ocean to Japan for a preview.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 4 August 2010.

Where Have All the Cameras Gone?

2010-07-21T07:16:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, I attended a good friend's 60th birthday celebration. It was a wonderful event for a wonderful person.

All the trappings were there: friends, family, the cake, candles, jokes about being 60 and the requisite photos of the cake and blowing out the candle.

But then a tech-savvy friend of mine made the observation that there was not one stand-alone camera or video camera being used. All of the photos and videos were being taken with what we used to call "cell phones," but are now more commonly known as "smartphones."

There was not a single Canon, Nikon, Kodak, Sony or other major photo brand of camera in sight. That floored me.

I have never considered a smartphone to be an adequate substitute for a "real" camera. Part of this is my loyalty to the 35-mm SLR format I grew up with, and my willingness to carry around an extra five or 10 pounds of camera equipment, but much of it is having seen the (low) quality of smartphones in the past.

Smartphones have made great strides of late, upping the pixel resolution of their cameras. While larger pixel resolution is good, the mere fact that the diameter of a typical smartphone camera is under a half-inch means that until the laws of physics are repealed, these cameras will never live up to their larger-lensed cousins.

But who cares?

Having been raised as a fine art photographer with role models such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, I take my photography seriously. But I've learned to divide my photography into two parts: photography and snapshots.

Photography is fine art photography with high quality, great composition, care for color clarity, tone and printmaking, etc.

Snapshots are intended to record an event, such as a BBQ, birthday party, vacation or something else where the primary reason is to record the people who attended. Snapshots are also frequently meant to be sent to someone else who could not attend so that they can see how someone is growing up or how happy they are.

It's clear to me that smartphones are intended for snapshots, not photography. That being said, I've seen some creative people doing some amazing work with smartphones.

But for most events in people's lives, a smartphone -- especially one of reasonable quality -- will do just fine. It will allow the people to re-live their event with sufficient quality that they'll smile. It will allow distant people, such as grandparents, to see their grandchildren's birthday parties or their first homerun.

It won't matter that the still image is not in ultra-high resolution, although some of the smartphones now shoot in a version of High Definition video. What will matter is that the images will bring people together in ways that took much longer and were costlier even a few years ago.

In fact, over the weekend, my 5-year-old son went to his first Little League pickup game. I did not bring either of my "real" cameras, but when he got up to bat, I pulled out my smartphone and was able to record his base hit, which his mother was able to see later that day. The fact that he was tagged out before he reached first base didn't matter -- he hit the ball.

I have complained for years about the need to carry both a high-quality still and video camera with me. While I'm not yet ready to give either of them up, I do see that we are starting to have good options, especially in the snapshot area.

While I really enjoy the high quality I receive from my large still and video cameras, I certainly like the convenience of the more portable devices.

So, keep your eyes open as the quality and convenience of smartphone photo and video technology increases. There are many opportunities for taking snapshots of wonderful events.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 21 July 2010.

Everything Old is New Again

2010-07-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

With many industries, the old adage of "whatever is old is new again" rings true. Technology is the same.

When I started in computers 30-plus years ago, mainframes ruled the computing world. All computing was centralized and we had "dumb" terminals that provided windows into the big computer.

Personal computers changed that dramatically by distributing the computing horsepower to the users. The death of mainframes and centralized computers was predicted by many people.

The pendulum swung from centralized computing to distributed computing.

And, in fact, many mainframes did disappear; although, to be accurate, most laptop computers far exceed the computational horsepower of the mainframes of decades ago. But with the development of local computing came problems of managing not only the applications, but the data.

Specifically, whenever a new version of software was released, for people to use it, the software had to be distributed and installed on people's computers. The more people out there, the more Herculean a task this became.

So when the Internet came along, the idea of a Web browser and centralized computing came back into vogue. In other words, the pendulum had started to swing from distributed computing back to centralized computing.

People discovered that managing applications and data centrally is, in many ways, far easier and cost-effective than trying to manage oodles of computers. But I'm seeing a change yet again. We now have very smart devices such as iPhones, BlackBerrys and Android smartphones. Add to that the iPad and other devices and we see something interesting.

While the centralized computing approach was meant to occur through a Web browser such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, we're starting to see "app stores." Each app store is a virtual location where people can buy applications for their smart devices. Most everyone has heard of apps to do banking, games, maps, etc.

By last count, the Apple Store has more than 125,000 applications for the iPhone and there are more than 50,000 apps for the Android operating system. And, unlike most Web browser-based applications, these apps run locally on a specific operating system, and are not compatible with other operating systems. For example, an iPhone app won't run on a Motorola Droid phone, and vice versa.

But what surprised me is that this seems to be the pendulum swinging back to local applications running on devices, rather than Web-based applications that run on a central computer. There are a number of very good reasons for this.

First, local applications can typically do more things than applications that run solely in a browser. This gap has closed over the past few years, but still exists in some very significant ways.

Second, as connections to the Internet continue to be more and more "always on," tying the portability of a remote device with the computational horsepower of computers that reside in large data centers makes a very attractive option.

Third, updating these local applications has become almost painless -- either they automatically update themselves or offer to be updated with little to no interaction from the user.

So now that we're seeing robust applications become local again, I'm trying to see what the next swing of the pendulum will be and what it will look like. Open platforms, such as Google's Android operating system, have a good shot at working well on multiple devices. Closed platforms such as Apple's have been solid innovators, but are not known for cross-platform compatibility.

It's all yet another reason why technology is so fascinating to follow ... you never know what will be coming next. But, I predict what comes next will look a lot like something that has come before. After all, everything old is new again.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 7 July 2010.

Can't We Just Talk?

2010-06-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

Communications. You hear it a lot in the news, by psychiatrists, authors and consultants, about the best way to get people to work together and how communication is a perennial issue.

As my wife and I approach our 25th wedding anniversary in July, I can attest to the value of good communication. This, of course, we learned through years of both good and bad communication.

Technology has created many ways for us to communicate with each other. I'll stick with the one-on-one communications as opposed to mass communications, such as books, television and radio.

One-on-one communications started as face-to-face communications and I'll talk about that later.

Distance and other factors mean that we can't always communicate face-to-face. So early on, letters and mail service replaced the face-to-face communications. At one time, writing letters was an art form, and to read the many personal communications that went back and forth between people years ago, it's easy to see why they can be so highly valued.

Later on, we had the telegraph, which kinda, sorta, replaced the letter. The telegraph was more of the texting version of writing letters — short and to the point ... just the facts, ma'am.

The telephone came along and let people interact with each other live. It enabled them to hear the various voice nuances, to share a laugh, and gave them the ability to detect sarcasm, humor and other subtle changes in tone and delivery that can convey far more than the written word. And, when calling "long distance" meant speaking quickly because of the per-minute charges, even so, each message was precious when speaking with a parent, grandparent, or friend.

Eventually e-mails came along and, it seems, they have all but eliminated the personal letter. Interestingly enough, now I find that a personal note or letter sent via mail has far more value than it used to. With most people now having access to a computer, an e-mail account and spending more and more time online, it's pretty easy to zip off an e-mail to anyone, anywhere in the world, in a moment's notice.

As with any written communication, though, it lacks the ability to communicate nuances. Hence, we've developed emoticons, such as ;-) to denote a snicker; and :-( to denote sadness; and there are many others — better than nothing at all, but still a far cry from being a good way to communicate.

The advent of texting is perhaps the worst form of communication ever. While texting can be good for truly communicating just the facts, it's rife with errors in spelling, grammar and substance. Oh, and let's not forget the new acronyms, like ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing).

Another tool that's been around for a while is video-conferencing. While typically reserved for large corporations with big budgets, high-speed Internet service has enabled anyone with a personal computer and a webcam to make use of video conference as a means of communication. This has been a boon to parents who are traveling and want to say goodnight to their kids, or tech-savvy grandparents who want to see their grandchildren frequently.

Not to be outdone, a handful of companies still occupy the high-end video-conferencing space with a technology called "telepresence," which delivers high-definition video to those who can afford it.

But none of these are a substitute for in-person, face-to-face, press-the-flesh, solid communications with others. In a time when travel budgets — both personal and corporate — are restricted due to cost savings pressures, sometimes the need to meet someone in person is even greater.

In many instances, I've had a business or personal relationship that has been good, but for which we've not met in person. While these relationships have been good, they have been remarkably better after a face-to-face meeting and typically a meal or two together.

So, for me, all of the forms of communication available today simply serve as a backup for when I can't be with someone in person. After all, we are human and no technology can replace that.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 23 June 2010.

How Many Do We Need?

2010-06-09T04:51:00.000-07:00

This column started as a question of how many times I need to pay for Internet access, but took a turn to how many things we need -- in many areas.

As I was paying my bills, I was counting the number of times in my life that Internet service is paid. I have Cablevision as my Internet Service Provider (ISP) for my home. It's very good and I like it. But I also have Internet service for my mobile phone. So does my wife. My oldest daughter has an e-mail, but no large data plan. That's at least four times I pay for the same Internet access.

When I go to work, my office pays for Internet service, as does my wife's employer.

When you think about it, most of these services are used very little, typically less than 1 percent of the time. During the days when people aren't home, our Internet service is not really utilized. During nights and weekends, the office Internet connections aren't used very much, too. Mobile phone Internet service is used sporadically, but not all the time.

I do like that Cablevision is providing WiFi service in public areas at no extra charge for Cablevision subscribers. A recent announcement also allows Cablevision, Time Warner and Verizon subscribers to share each provider's public WiFi hotspots at no additional charge.

Then I thought about how many computers people need. I recall when an IBM PC XT cost essentially one month's salary. That meant that if a home had a computer, there was only one.

Now, most people in a home have at least one computer of their own, sometimes two or more, especially if the adults have one for work and one for personal use. Often people will have a special computer for either gaming or high-end applications such as video editing.

Toss in a few Kindles, iPads and smartphones, as well as game consoles (Wii, PS3, Xbox, etc.) and the number of computers in a household starts to increase dramatically. Even televisions are now specialized computers that more and more are connected to the Internet.

I have no doubt that this trend of more and more electronics in the home will continue to rise, as will the service providers such as the Geek Squad and Nerds-on-Call that will help homeowners with their increasingly complex home technology.

I even look around at the number of printers in people's homes. While many printers can be attached to and shared on a network, it's still easier for people to attach a printer to every computer.

Don't get me started about phone numbers. It used to be that most homes had one phone line ... two if they had teenagers. Now, it's not unusual for a home to have at least two lines (one for home, another for a home office), perhaps a fax line. Some homes have so much going on that they even have a PBX, which can handle multiple lines with voice mailboxes for different people.

Add to the count that each person has at least one phone number for his or her mobile phone, add a Skype or Google Voice number and it's no wonder that area codes are splitting and "overlay" area codes (two area codes for the same geography, such as 212 and 646) are multiplying faster than rabbits.

And how about e-mail accounts? I recall when I received my first e-mail account. I believe it was a CompuServe account. I paid about $50 per month for it and couldn't fathom why someone would want more than one. Now, it's not unusual for someone to have four or five e-mail accounts.

At least one e-mail account could be for personal use and another one for business use. Beyond that, people may even have e-mail accounts for an online persona that could be different than their personal account; they may have one for a school or professional organization. The reasons never stop.

After all of this lead-up, it's easy to see how things have become so complicated and confusing, sometimes of our own creation, but often times due to an inability to manage our own technology.

With each iteration of technology, it often seems to be set up to manage the previous or emerging set of technology -- with mixed success.

For me, I know that I have to manage my technology usage quite actively, otherwise I find myself swimming in it. And backing out of the technology quagmire can be quite difficult.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 9 June 2010.

Bright Ideas

2010-05-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

More than a year ago, I wrote an article about how lighting technology has been changing.

The big news at the time was that Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) were the news of the day. CFLs are also called "swirls" because of their shape that has them twisted into a graceful swirl instead of being long tubes as are so familiar in office buildings.

While CFLs heralded a new era of energy efficient lighting, typically reducing power consumption by 50 to 70 percent, all was not good in CFL land.

The first issue that came to light (pun intended) was that CFLs include minute amounts of mercury in each bulb. This makes them "hazardous waste" because of the environmental impact of mercury in landfills and, more importantly, water supplies.

As a result, CFLs should not be disposed of in the normal trash, but should be recycled in places that accept hazardous waste. The practical impact is that I don't know of any places that specifically accept CFLs for recycling or disposal.

On a more practical note, early CFLs had two annoying properties. First, they take a while to warm up, meaning that when you turn them on, they're dim for about one to two minutes before the glow comes up to normal. Second, their color has always been different than normal incandescent bulbs, resulting in lighting that is different than usual, and sometimes unpleasant to the eye.

From a cost perspective, CFLs cost more than normal incandescent bulbs -- by a lot. While I'm sure there's a good formula for calculating the low cost of an incandescent bulb and its energy consumption over its expected lifetime versus a higher cost of a CFL with its reduced energy consumption over its expected lifetime, I've not seen credible sources making the comparison.

I will say that after replacing probably close to 100 light bulbs in my home (it amazed me how many bulbs are in a home) with CFLs over the past few years, I have seen my monthly energy bill go down. Whether that's enough to offset the price of the CFLs has not been calculated.

I also found it disappointing that many of the CFLs I installed that claim a life of "up to seven years" have already failed. I actually called the manufacturer on some of the bulbs and asked for a replacement since I was only one to two years into the lifespan. I was told that the bulbs were guaranteed only for one year, but that they can last up to seven years. Hmmm, not quite the guarantee I was expecting.

The final issue with CFLs is that they don't really have all the capabilities of incandescent bulbs. Specifically, most CFLs aren't dimmable, so any dimming capabilities are only available by spending a lot more money for dimmable CFLs. And dimmable CFLs don't have the range of light that a standard incandescent bulb does.

Given my naked-eye assessment, dimmable CFLs go from 100 percent light and are dimmable to perhaps the 50 percent level and then shut off.

During my initial report on CFLs, I also mentioned Light-Emitting Diode (LED) light bulbs. They were just emerging with some prototypes and the ones I saw were good, but extremely heavy and expensive.

The electronics giant Philips has recently announced what it claims will be a good replacement for the standard incandescent light bulb (see: http://bit.ly/92rOjy) that will "deliver up to 80 percent energy savings and last 25 times longer than its century-old predecessor." I've not seen this one yet, but if the early prototypes from other companies are any indication, LED lighting should be promising.

Some of the benefits of LED lighting include more pleasant colors, dimmability and longevity. I will see if the weight issue has been addressed, since heavy bulbs make applications in things like gooseneck or desk lamps impractical.

So far, no indication is given as to the solid waste or environmental impact of LED lights. They do appear to have some pretty substantial electronics and materials that far exceed the basic components of an incandescent bulb.

I am also interested in the cost of these LED bulbs. Again, the reduction in energy consumption may end up saving money in the long run, but the up-front cost of replacing 100 or so bulbs in a home may make that savings hard to buy into.

I welcome the new LED technology and am looking forward to seeing them on shelves, especially if they prove to deliver a better lighting solution than either incandescent or CFL bulbs.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 26 June 2010.

The Modern Campground

2010-05-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

Last week's wonderful weather had my children and me thinking about getting outdoors. Part of the benefit of the outdoors is getting away from technology. But I also believe that technology can enhance the outdoor experience.

While living outdoors runs the gamut from car camping to carrying everything on your back for long distances, a few things go a long way to making camping attractive to most.

My experience is that campers are happy when they stay warm and dry, sleep comfortably, eat decent food and have decent hygiene.

Technology addresses many of these items quite nicely.

Staying warm and dry

While there's nothing quite as good as old-fashioned goose down to keep one warm, there are many synthetic products that do an admirable job of keeping you warm on a cold morning.

Sleeping comfortably

Although staying warm on a summer's night here in New England isn't typically a problem, the technologies for comfortable sleeping bags and even inflatable air mattresses make sleeping on hard ground a whole lot softer.

Eating decent food

I recall from my days as a young boy using a traditional Coleman stove with "white gas" to make meals. The burners were finicky and had to be pumped by hand, but managed to cook a decent meal for a group. Today's stoves with propane or other fuels can provide a great amount of heat to serve up remarkably good meals. Many prepared foods are also available that transport easily and clean up well. Even if you're carrying all of your belongings on a long trip, there's little reason why everyone can't enjoy a good meal.

Keeping decent hygiene

This hasn't changed much over the years, other than finding that more and more campgrounds offer showers and toilets. I am finding portable showers that are affordable and very usable for when you want to get away from it all, but still have a hot shower every few days.

Powering up

Where I do find technology has developed is in the abundance of electrical devices at campgrounds. It used to be that you'd have flashlights and maybe a transistor radio. A tent we purchased recently has a "power port" in it. In essence, it was a hole in the tent for an extension cord to go through. Clearly people are bringing power products when they camp.

Powering these devices occurs by either power at the campsite or some portable source. If you're car camping, it's easy to purchase a "power inverter" that will turn your cigarette lighter into a 110-volt electrical outlet. This will power small devices, such as laptop computers and cell phones. Larger devices require more robust power sources, such as a generator, which can be annoying to other campers who relish the silence.

But the items I like are the solar powered chargers. You sit them in the sun for a few hours and they charge up batteries in cell phones or even laptop computers. I've even seen solar cells on backpacks and hats.

One of the items that I regularly take with me is a walkie talkie. When you're out in the woods, the mobile phone coverage can be sparse at best. Walkie talkies, because they don't require stationery mobile phone antennas, work well in a defined geographic area. Typically walkie talkies can have a range of 20-25 miles. Note that this is under the best of circumstances -- walkie talkies of that range typically work well for about one half to one mile.

Another tool that's good to have is a GPS device. It can help you navigate and track your position to prevent you from getting lost. Some of the current GPS devices include walkie talkies as well as emergency locator services that will broadcast a distress signal and your GPS coordinates to people who can come find you.

But remember, all of these devices require power, whether it be by replaceable or rechargeable batteries. Without those power sources, they do no good at all, so keep your old fashioned outdoor navigation skills intact.

No matter what technology there is, my favorite time is sitting around the campfire helping my kids make s'mores. There will never be a technology replacement for that.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 5 May 2010.

Scarcity versus Abundance

2010-04-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

I was wrestling the other day about which is better: scarcity or abundance.

On one hand, scarcity can lead people to value something highly and conserve it, whether it's water, electricity, gold, or something else. When something is scarce, its value typically increases, especially if there is demand for the item - we're talking basic economics here.

On the other hand, with abundance, people tend to value things less and waste them more often, or at least not be as cautious about their use. Where I grew up in California, every year there were discussions about water and droughts. In the northeast, we rarely hear much about droughts, watering our lawns too much, washing our cars too often, or reservoirs running dry.

This column is not about economics or even the environment for that matter, but my mind was working on how the availability of technology can change how society functions.

Take for example how fast computers are.

When there's a scarcity of computational horsepower, only highly valued tasks and functions are done. Specifically, when mainframes were all the computers that we had, only large projects that would speed up processing of things -- like airline reservations and business accounting functions - were performed by these giant, expensive machines.

Back then, we as programmers spent large amounts of our time making efficient use of programming and databases.

As the cost of computer power has dropped dramatically, there's an abundance of computing power available to everyone, in the form of a personal computer, mobile phone, calculator, automobile, etc. We've taken what was a very expensive resource and made it so cheap that these little computers are seemingly everywhere.

And because the computers are so cheap, we can afford to let them sit idle much, if not most, of the time.

For example, most personal computers are idle 90 percent of the time. They may be on, but while you're reading your e-mail, they're essentially sitting idle. The same is true with the GPS in your car, the mobile phone in your pocket and just about every device you own.

The significant drop in the power of computing has allowed many more people to use the power of computers. Because computing power is not reserved solely for people who can afford expensive resources, it allows many more people to use and benefit from technology.

Unlike other resources that may be wasted, such as gasoline, food and water, computing power has a very small pollution footprint. Yes, there's energy that's required to power a computer.

Due to the decrease of computational power, many software developers spend more time creating new applications rather than focusing on squeezing every bit of computational horsepower out of a processor.

I think the new focus on new applications is great for everyone. We benefit from more and more applications that help us in our daily lives and the technology becomes easier and easier to use.

Similarly, bandwidth is a resource that continues to benefit everyone.

The days of dial-up modems prevented us from doing much of anything (at least as compared to today) -- things like making free or cheap long distance or international phone calls, watching a television show or movie, or downloading music were all things that were simply not possible.

Now we take them for granted.

The best part about these technologies is that there is essentially an endless supply. We can always make more computers that will inevitably be faster than the previous generation. We can also make more bandwidth that will let us use the Internet and other technologies for purposes we can't even conceive today.

So while sometimes scarcity brings creativity and efficiency, I also believe that abundance can bring even more creativity and efficiency.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 14 April 2010.

Tech in Trying Times

2010-03-17T16:27:00.000-07:00

The storm that hit Westport over the weekend provides many opportunities to see how technology can play a part in getting life back to normal.

To start with, our first responders - police, fire, EMS, and town officials - have and need good communications equipment in order to coordinate their efforts. Typically radios are used, since they don't rely on wires strung on poles that can be harmed by falling trees.

Along with communications equipment, our first responders are typically equipped with portable machines such as chain saws, "jaws of life," pumps, fans and other items that will help in an emergency. Note that most of these items are self-sufficient and do not require any backups or outside support to operate.

Such is the case with how many of our homes need to be in such an emergency.

Start with telephones in our homes. While most homes still have a telephone provided by AT&T or similar "land line" companies and these phones will continue to operate without electricity, if we rely on a phone that plugs into a power outlet, say a cordless phone, when the power goes out, so will our phones.

I keep an old wall-mounted princess phone in my basement that's plugged directly into the incoming AT&T line. Tha way, if we lose power, we'll still be able to make phone calls on a land line.

If you receive your telephone service over the Internet, whether it be through Cablevision, Vonage, Ooma, or some other company, your Internet service should continue even during a power outage. Again, there are items in your home that will need power during an outage, such as your cable modem, router, switch, etc. This is where an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) -- essentially a battery -- can come in handy. Unfortunately, an UPS typically lasts a few hours, not the days or week that some people in Westport will be experiencing this week.

Neither of the above communications services will survive a tree falling on the lines that feed them to your house. This is where mobile phones come in handy. As mobile phones are wireless, as long as the cell towers stay intact, you should have phone service. Note that most cell towers have their own power generation backup systems that should allow them to continue operating without outside power for days.

Also keep in mind that many mobile phones have Internet access and can provide Internet access for one or more computers through what's called "tethering," if needed. Some new mobile phones even have built-in WiFi to provide Internet service to multiple computers simultaneously.

But communications is only one step in surviving a storm such as we experienced over the weekend.

It's always a good idea to have a few days supply of food and water on hand. Our first selectman, Gordon Joseloff, has recommended that houses have on hand two weeks of food and water.

Beyond that, having sufficient batteries and flashlights as well as required prescription medications and first aid supplies can help.

If your circumstances allow, having an emergency generator to power your home can be a wise investment.

Houses nowadays have far more electrical requirements than in years past. Beyond the obvious power requirements of refrigerators and freezers, most heaters require electricity to run pumps, motors and blowers. In the case of flooding, one needs power to run a sump pump to keep a basement dry. If you receive your water from a well, you'll need electricity to pump the water out. In our home, we have a pump to move sewage up a hill to the city sewer.

Hooking up a generator is not as simple as one would hope. If this is something you want to do, I suggest involving a qualified electrician and installer.

From what I've seen about this and other natural disasters, the good news is that during these times, we see the best and most generous of care from others. To those who have lost power or whose homes have been damaged, friends and neighbors have been very willing to offer assistance in any way possible.

To all who have helped and who continue to help our town and region recover, a heartfelt thank you.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 17 March 2010.

The Kid Test

2010-03-03T05:07:00.000-08:00

Years ago when I was designing software interfaces, I used to design software using what I call the "Mom Test."

As my mother is now in her late 70s and is not a computer user, my thought was that if my mother could figure out how to use it with little guidance, anyone should be able to use it.

Most of the testing my Mom performed was for PC-based software. This was prior to most of the Internet-based software we're used to.

The Mom Test is a remarkably reliable test. I would frequently take software I was developing over to my Mom's home and see if she could figure out how to use it. My use of the Mom Test provided some very good functionality that I would never have been able to come up with on my own.

But I've discovered another test. It occurred while watching my 5-year-old son, who was playing with my mobile phone. My son doesn't yet read and is still working on identifying his letters and numbers, so the use of words does not provide guidance to him.

Of course, he wasn't making phone calls, but he was navigating the menus and applications remarkably effectively.

He was able to move his fingers to bring up menus, scroll through lists, select items and applications and generally make his way through the user interface without much difficulty.

While I was somewhat afraid at what havoc he could wreak with my handheld device, my fascination with observing him allowed me to let him continue.

What fascinated me was how quickly he picked up on how to use the computer. He was clearly more agile than I am, able to pick out icons and menu items, not knowing what they say, but obviously knowing what they do.

It had me think about just how much we've changed from interfaces in which people need to be literate to use them, to interfaces that make extensive use of icons/symbols, color, graphics and, yes, text.

I dubbed this the "Kid Test." If my son can use a device, anyone can.

It also had me reminisce about how my first interactions with computers was with punched cards, paper tape and a teletype. Now, my son is moving his fingers across the surface of a smooth panel and even talking to the computer.

So while one might think of a change to interfaces of symbols, colors, and graphics to be "dumbing down" the way we use things, I see it as a broadening of the user base, including not only young people, but others who may not be able to read our language.

This latter item reminds of the many times I've been in foreign countries and, despite my years of education, I found myself functionally illiterate. There was one time in particular when I was in Russia and, with some guidance, was able to kind of, sort of make out the language, but it was at about the same level as my 5-year-old son is now.

While I don't believe it's possible to reduce every interface to simple pictures and icons, I do believe that we've made huge strides in making interactions with computers far easier. Given the changes that I've seen in the past few decades, I trust that we will continue with even better ways to interact with computers.

So as my son develops his skills with handheld computers and perhaps even laptop and desktop computers, I can only imagine how my children's children will be interacting with their computers. I'm looking forward to what the next generation "Kid Test" will look like.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 3 March 2010.

A Million Dollars in My Pocket

2010-02-17T06:08:00.000-08:00

I heard a speaker say the other day that technology doesn't become really interesting until it becomes almost free.

The reasoning behind this idea is that when technology becomes inexpensive, it is adopted by millions of people and becomes used in very interesting and creative ways -- typically in ways that the inventors had not envisioned.

I've been marveling about this, as I've recently been able to use and compare both an Apple iPhone 3GS and a Motorola Droid. Both are phenomenal devices that perform similar functions, yet have vastly different "personalities."

While I was using them earlier this week, I took a few seconds and thought about the millions of dollars that went into the creation of each of these devices; the thousands of people who came up with not only the hardware that make these devices; the thousands of people who wrote the software for these devices -- not only the operating system, but the thousands of applications that I can download for anywhere, for free or typically under $10.

I also think about the infrastructure that exists to make these devices work, as I sit in my home, as I travel from place to place, even on airplanes now through onboard WiFi. The basic function of these devices used to be a phone. However, they have moved so far beyond basic phone service. Really, it's amazing.

Nowadays, handheld devices are a combination of GPS devices, Web browsers, address books, calendars, game devices, word processors and entertainment devices, to name a few. It seems that every day, the functions these handheld devices perform continue to expand.

There are years of legislation that have been enacted to make these devices work, lots of marketing dollars spent, many agreements put in place, etc. All of these took resources of people, time and money. In fact, there have clearly been billions of dollars spent on making these devices available to me.

Yet with these devices, I can make virtually all the telephone calls I want, look up information, communicate with friends, family, and clients ... all for less than $100 per month.

I compare this to the first Motorola "brick" cell phone I had back in the early 1990s. I probably paid about the same amount per month for the phone, but received less than 1/10th of the value I do now for the same amount of money.

So even though I don't like paying as much for my phone service as I do and I hope that prices continue to drop, I do have to say that the value I receive is huge. The price I pay is a drop in the bucket compared to what it cost to bring this technology to me.

As I use both the iPhone and Droid, I continually uncover new features that are built in to each device, from speech recognition to integration with corporate and personal e-mail and calendar systems, to fun applications that serve no function except entertaining my children or me.

I am truly enjoying using both devices and, reflecting on how far we've come, I'm quite happy to imagine where technology will continue to provide value, often satisfying needs that we don't even know we have.

But for now, I will continue to marvel at what has been packed into the devices that are becoming essential parts of my life. I also find myself smiling when I uncover a feature or item that confirms the value of what I now carry with me.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 17 February 2010.

To iPad or Not to iPad

2010-02-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

Every announcement by Apple seems to generate remarkable furor, including last week's introduction of the iPad.

While most people -- including the press -- haven't had much time to look at it in any depth, that hasn't stopped people from prognosticating about the iPad's future.

While the iPad looks like a really big iPhone or iPod Touch, it's a little of both and a lot of neither.

It's not like an iPhone because there's no built-in phone, but as I've discussed here for quite a while, most mobile devices are more computer than phone.

Neither does the iPad have a camera to take still or movies. Nor does the iPad have a USB connection with which it can connect to a computer over a physical wired connection, and it doesn't come with a physical keyboard, although there is an on-screen keyboard and a keyboard accessory that can be purchased.

Instead, the iPad relies on WiFi or a 3G (cellular) connection to connect to the Internet.

What the iPad does have is a much better screen for viewing Web sites, books, photographs and movies.

Oddly enough, the iPad's screen aspect ratio is that of traditional television, not High Definition TV (HDTV). Given that most computers nowadays are going to the HD widescreen format and are trying hard to accommodate HDTV, it's surprising that the iPad didn't include HDTV format and capabilities in this first iteration.

The iPad is also supposed to run most of the 100,000-plus applications from the AppStore, albeit at a lower resolution, as a result of the different screen resolutions.

Two of my biggest concerns about current e-book readers such as Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook is the lack of color and multimedia. Apple's iPod addresses both of those items very well and Apple's new downloadable e-books will make a great change in how we view books.

From all available information, the first version of the iPad will be a great way to consume content from the Internet. It is not intended to create content such as word processing, spreadsheets, or video.

With the iPad's larger screen, it will be very interesting to see what applications are developed specifically for the iPad. Clearly, there will be many games and reference tools. But since the iPad isn't something you slip into your pocket, the iPad's larger form factor will make it better for some applications than others.

As a result, it's not likely that the iPad will replace anyone's laptop, desktop or netbook computer anytime soon. Instead, we'll have to see whether the iPad is creating a new niche of computer that's part traditional computer as we know it, part netbook, part e-book reader and part of something we haven't ever known before.

It could be that the iPad is just as good at creating a new market as the original iPod was. Despite the iPad's limitations, if the initial iPad sales are successful, there can and will be further versions of the iPad that will address many of the items that Apple and consumers consider to be shortcomings.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Friday 5 February 2010.

Cutting the Cable on Cable TV

2010-01-20T12:59:00.000-08:00

In the beginning, there was broadcast TV. And it was free. All you had to do was use an antenna on top of your TV or roof.

You could watch all the TV you wanted for free, paid for by advertisements, of course.

When cable TV was introduced, it provided subscribers with extra content, free of advertisements (commercials).

Somewhere along the line, paid TV started to include advertisements and the idea of paying for TV without advertisements went the way of the dodo bird.

So, although most of us pay for our TV and have advertisements, too, it’s attractive to fi nd ways to eliminate both paying for TV and advertisements.

The simplest way to eliminate advertisements is through what’s called “time-shifting.” This is done through the use of a DVR (digital video recorder), which is often available through the cable company, or by using a third-party DVR — the most popular ones are from TiVo.

Time shifting allows you to record your shows and then play them back when you want to watch them. By doing so, you can quickly skip over advertisements, but you still have to pay for the cable television service.

Another way to cut out your cable TV costs is to go back to using an antenna. Analog television broadcasts ended nationwide last year. But digital television broadcasts are now readily available for free, including many High Defi nition (HD) stations.

If you put an antenna on your home, you can pick up most local television stations (ABC, CBS, NBC and the like) with what’s called over-the-air, but won’t pick up the “premium” channels offered by cable companies, such as HBO, Disney, TNT and others. You can combine over-the-air television with a DVR to drop advertisements and have commercial free television for free.

But the biggest breakthrough, in my opinion, is television over the Internet.

If you’re OK watching television on a small screen (e.g. your computer), there are quite a few free Web services that will let you watch many shows. Here are a few:

Hulu.com: This is a site that combines much of the content from a number of broadcasters and makes it available online for free, albeit with advertisements that can’t be skipped.
Abc.com: This site provides much of its primetime programming online for free, again with advertisements that can’t be skipped.
YouTube.com: While content uploaded for free by people like you and me is limited to 10 minutes in length, some companies are paying to have longer content made available.

Making this an even more attractive alternative, some televisions now have connections that hook up to your home Internet to access these shows directly.

There are also products such as Roku that can receive Internet video and display it on your television.

NetFlix has connected its service with many companies to allow customers to watch movies on their television without having to mail DVDs back and forth. NetFlix is available on Roku, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft XBOX 360 and more

The biggest type of content you can’t yet watch free is so called “premium” content. The HBOs, Starzs, A&Es and other networks of the entertainment industry just don’t (yet) make their content available online for free.

Furthermore, most content available online is prime time. Most daytime shows such as game shows, soap operas and talk shows simply haven’t found it worthwhile to make their content available.

But it’s quite possible to have a satisfying television experience without paying for cable TV. What this means is that people will be relying more and more on their Internet connection to provide not only their entertainment, but telephone and computer access.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 20 January 2010.

Tech Resolutions

2010-01-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

The start of every new year is a time when many of us make resolutions to do things differently — and presumably, better.

Well, here are mine:

Simplify: Over the course of the years, the technology in my home has continued to grow. Multiple computers, multiple printers and wireless connections, among other devices, make running a home an even more challenging task.

While the growth of technology usually means an increased need, sometimes the technology grows just for fun.

I resolve that when a new computer or device enters my home, it will replace another piece that is on its way out. By doing so, I will at least keep the number of physical devices in my home from growing.

Don’t download stuff: The Internet has made it so easy to download stuff, whether it be music, videos, software or something else. Downloading music and videos generally only takes up space.

Downloading software can cause major disruptions to your computer due to hardware or software confl icts on the “nice” end to viruses and bugs on the “not nice” end of the spectrum.

Before I download any software, I will think twice about whether I really need the software and whether it’s worth risking the loss of my computer for a few days if the software doesn’t play nice with everything else on my computer.

Backup my data: Luckily, I’m pretty good at this. I use the Mozy (www.mozy.com) service to back up my data on the Internet, but there are other similar ones such as Carbonite that essentially do the same thing.

What I like about these online backup services is that they tend to run when I’m not using my computer and they store it outside of my home. While home-based backups are much faster and cheaper, the problem is that if a fire, flood, or other disaster hits my home, both my computer and the backup will probably be destroyed. To me, the $50 per year that these services charge is worth every penny.

Get a personal mobile device: We used to call these telephones, but mobile devices are now really portable computers that have a phone function on them. While I have used PDAs and other mobile devices for business for years, I’ve avoided getting one for myself.

While I enjoy going “offline” for a while, I’m finding more and more uses for these mobile devices, such as GPS, mapping, and, yes, personal e-mail. Right now, the iPhone and Google Droid phones are my top contenders, but new versions are coming out all the time.

I do want to have one that I can use for wireless Internet access for my laptop when I travel so I don’t have to pay an additional monthly fee for wireless Internet access.

Cut telecom costs: As my technology usage has increased, so has my telecom costs. From land lines to Internet access and mobile phone plans, it seems as though my telecom costs continue to rise.

I resolve to review all of my telecom costs in order to see what I really need and what I don’t need, and then take corrective steps to ensure I’m paying the least amount for what I really need. It’s the plethora of carriers and plans that make this hard to do.

So, while all of these items will take time, each one will make my life easier and better. Let me know what your New Year’s tech resolutions are.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 6 January 2010.

Retro-Modern Holidays

2009-12-23T09:15:00.000-08:00

Having two children under the age of 12 makes Christmas very fun. Everything from setting up the indoor and outdoor decorations to selecting gifts for family members, on to parties, advent calendars, concerts and even cold weather are all part of the season.

Yet every year, I look at the things that keep children fascinated. Every year, there’s something new to keep children interested. Here are some that I’ve seen:

Christmas lights — Over the past three or four years, LED (light emitting diode) lights have become all the rage. Energy efficiency is one of the main benefi ts of LEDs, but they also have a certain look to them that is different than the typical incandescent bulbs most of us grew up with.

A few days ago, we were driving around Westport and my children saw some of the old-style Christmas bulbs on a neighbor’s home. The children started asking about them and ended up thinking that the old style lights are prettier than the new LEDs.

The inside Christmas lights are also the same way. While years ago people used candles on their trees (hugely dangerous), I also remember the light bulbs we used as kids that were hot enough to stretch certain types of tinsel. While not as dangerous as candles, the incandescent bulbs we used provided a level of danger that is surprising nowadays.

The bulbs we now use are very low wattage, low heat types that are still very pretty, but don’t have much of the charm of the old bulbs. But my favorite are the liquid ones that bubble due to a bulb underneath that heats the liquid inside. In fact, that reminds me that I still have to fi nd them in our attic and put them on the tree.

Toys — Sometimes toys just don’t need any improvement. I understand the attractiveness and even compelling nature of some of the digital toys such as Wii, PlayStation, Xbox and even the portable devices, but I fi nd that many children, especially the younger ones, still like the basic toys.

I can’t help but recall past holidays and birthdays when children receive many presents and still end up playing with the wrapping paper and boxes. A few years ago, a friend of mine purchased a new TV and gave us the old box (this is before TVs were flat). As the box measured about 4-feet square, we gave it to our children, cut a few holes in it, and at different times, it became a fort, a castle, a space ship and a home. It was imagination that helped our children turn a box into a favorite play toy. That box stayed in our family’s play room for about a year before it finally fell apart. And even then our children were begging us not to throw it away.

Having grown up with board games, it’s been interesting to see how many games of that ilk now require batteries or some other form of power to operate. While some games benefit from added lights and bells, I find that the vast majority do not. What is disappointing is when a perfectly good game that can be run without electricity no longer functions because an electronic aspect has been introduced and you fi nd yourself with dead batteries.

One very interesting change over the years is the “Easy Bake Oven.” Many of you may remember them. They have morphed from a standard kitchen oven to looking like a microwave oven. But the most serious change is that an Easy Bake Oven requires a lightbulb to provide heat to bake the items inside.

Over the years, light bulbs have become more energy efficient — meaning cooler — which means they don’t work as well in an Easy Bake Oven. About a year ago we had to replace a bulb in an Easy Bake Oven. It was hard to find an old fashioned 75 watt incandescent (not energy efficient) bulb.

As we look toward celebrating this Christmas with my family, I will most of all look forward to the excitement in the eyes of my children in all the events of the holiday season.

It is with adult eyes that I watch my children as they grow and experience this changing world, sometimes improving, yet sometimes being misty-eyed about how things used to be.

Every holiday season is magical. I wish everyone a very happy holiday season and a prosperous new year.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 23 December 2009.

Death of the Dedicated Gadget

2009-12-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

I have always enjoyed gadgets. Google's new dictionary (www.google.com/dictionary) defines gadget as follows: "A gadget is a small machine or device which does something useful. You sometimes refer to something as a gadget when you are suggesting that it is complicated and unnecessary."

For years, specific items were engineered to perform a specific function. A hammer is a hammer. A screwdriver is a screwdriver. A saw is a saw. Every profession has its own gadgets, whether you're a doctor, accountant, road paver, carpenter or musician.

But most people nowadays refer to gadgets as being electrical in nature, such as cell phones, measuring devices, games and toys, and more.

Most gadgets do one or a very few number of things well. For example, GPS devices are great for helping you navigate. Some even work as a speakerphone for your mobile phone and will give you turn-by-turn directions.Other gadgets let you solve puzzles by using mechanical parts, buttons, lights or other challenges.

The very nature of gadgets is that they do one or just a few things really well. Gadgets can range from just a few dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on their complexity, marketability and other consumer-oriented forces.

The problem with gadgets -- just like any other new shiny object -- is that they tend to be used for a little while and then are relegated to a shelf or drawer somewhere. Even if you needed to use them, because they're all separate, they're hard to carry.

But as computer technology has shrunk, we now have mobile computing platforms that fit in your pocket. Most notably, the Apple iPhone and its "App Store" allow people to toss a large number of their gadgets and carry them in their pocket. The new Google Android operating system that's out on the Motorola Droid as well as RIM's Blackberry and Palm's devices have similar application capabilities.

Instead of mobile phones that have the ability to run applications, we've now moved to mobile computing platforms that have a telephone function. But where the telephone used to be the primary function of a mobile phone, in many instances, it's now a secondary or tertiary function.

Some of the gadgets that I think will go away almost immediately are the dashtop mounted GPS devices. I have one and it's pretty nice, but it could soon be replaced since my next telephone will have a GPS chip in it and be able to connect to a map source such as Google maps (which is constantly updated), as well as real-time traffic data. Plus, most GPS companies charge for map updates and real-time traffic data.

My daughter plays the piano, violin and harp. She has a gadget that she uses to tune her instruments. But with the iPhone's built-in microphone and the iPod touch's accessory microphone, she no longer needs to carry her electronic tuner gadget.

For carpenters and do-it-yourselfers, there's a level much like the old spirit levels to tell you when something is horizontal or vertical " -- or anything in between -- all with digital readout.

There's no need to go on about the different applications these platforms have. Apple claims to have more than 75,000 such applications available for download. The important point is that the computation power people carry in their pocket -- as well as its inherent flexibility -- is nothing short of astounding.

Your mobile phone is not just a phone. It's a full-blown computer.

While many gadgets required you to carry them around in your pocket, a carrying case, or some other method that takes up space, many new gadgets are just a screen click away.

I remember when the original Leatherman multi-tools came out. They combined pliers, a knife, screwdriver, saw and more into one useful gadget. The benefit was that they put a whole bunch of tools into a single tool. The problem was that I still like the strength and control of the individual tools.

But with mobile computing platforms, there's very little that one gives up by putting these gadgets on them. In fact, most of the gadgets are improved by the new platforms.

For people who love gadgets as much as I do, I'll miss the shelf and closet full of gadgets. Yet, having them all in my pocket everywhere I go will also be a lot of fun.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 9 December 2009.

Giving Thanks at Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T05:58:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday. I know, Canada has a Thanksgiving, but it's really a harvest festival and has very different roots. We enjoy having foreign guests at our Thanksgiving dinners because it is very family-oriented, remarkably non-commercial and a time of optimism.

In my family, we typically have people at the table say something they're thankful for. The typical answers involve being thankful for family, friends and health.

As I was preparing to write this column, I asked some of my friends about what I should write that would be topical to Thanksgiving. The real problem is that Thanksgiving is probably one of the most un-technical holidays we have.

Big advances have been boiling your turkey in peanut oil and a remote temperature sensor. Big deal.

But the idea that one of my colleagues gave me is to create a list of technologies that I'm thankful for. The idea sounded great, so here is my list:

1. The Internet: My wife and I were talking about the Internet and how it has changed so many things about our lives, from how we obtain our news and information, to how we buy things, how we communicate with friends, family and colleagues near and far, even how we consume our entertainment. It's clear to me that the Internet has truly transformed our lives for the better.

2. The personal computer: When I started my first job in computers way back in 1977, the mainframe I used filled a large room. Compared to today's computers, it did very little. The personal computer came along a few years later and brought computational power to individuals. Over the past 30 years, the value of computing has increased so dramatically -- it's essentially immeasurable. And as the cost of computers has decreased, computers have become available to more and more people, most recently as portable computers such as the iPhone.

3. Space flight: This encompasses a whole lot and I know that. Some have claimed that space exploration has delivered medical advances and electronic advances that could never have been achieved on Earth or without the desire to reach beyond our own planet. But I also look at the inspiration it gave to Americans and the world to quite literally reach for the stars. Setting lofty goals is a great way to see people excel.

4. Telecommunications: When I think about how telecommunications have changed since the party line my family had when I was a child, it's astonishing. Not only has the nominal charge of long-distance phone calls essentially gone to zero, but the cost of international calls is pennies instead of dollars per minute. Tie that in with the explosion of fax machines and now telecommunications enabling the Internet, and it's easy to see how telecommunications has changed the world.

5. Medical technology: I am blessed with a remarkably boring medical history. But when I read about advances in medicine such as minimally invasive surgery, MRIs, medicines that can address just the parts that are afflicting you, and more, it is simply staggering. Looking back on medical technology from even 20 years ago, they seem almost barbaric by today's standards.

6. Engines: Engines, motors and other power plants continue to amaze me. Whether this is an engine in an automobile, an electric motor in a kitchen appliance, or some rotating or reciprocating device, I am in awe at how people have managed to turn one form of energy -- typically gasoline or electricity -- into another type of energy that can lift, push, or produce some other value. Between cars, vacuum cleaners, airplanes and power tools, engines make life much easier for us. Even my dentist recommended that I use a toothbrush with a motor in it, saying that it will do a better job than I can by hand.

I could go on about other technologies for which I am thankful, but I am very happy to be living now when we have so many technologies making our lives more livable and fulfilling.

But on Thanksgiving, I will remind my family and the others with whom we share our dinner that no amount of technology can surpass family, friends and health.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Tuesday 24 November 2009.

Job Hunting and the Internet

2009-11-11T06:23:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I was honored to be invited to lead a seminar on the use of the social networking site LinkedIn, with a focus on job hunters. The event took place at the Westport Public Library as part of the “Trends in Technology” series.

One of the first points I made was that it’s unlikely that people will find their job through job postings on the Internet. Not only are most job postings fl ooded with hundreds, if not thousands, of responses, but the level of qualified applicants is often quite high given the current poor economy.

So what’s a person to do? What is an effective way to use the Internet for job hunting?

The good news is that the Internet enables people to make connections with people and companies that they may have otherwise never known. For example, with various social networking tools, such as LinkedIn, it’s easy to find that the parent of your second grade child’s friend works at a company you’d like to target.

Many recruiters acknowledge that fewer than 10 percent of all jobs go through them. Most jobs are found by people who locate a job through advertisements or personal connections — more commonly known as networking.

Regarding LinkedIn, I made a couple of suggestions to the attendees:

First, ensure that your LinkedIn profile represents you in the way you want. This includes the appropriate comments about yourself, your previous employment, your interests and a photo, etc.

Second, stay current in your profession and link your professional work to your LinkedIn profile. For example, if you have a blog, connect your blog postings to your LinkedIn profile. If you attend a conference, put it in your LinkedIn events. In other words, provide evidence of your professional activity in a way that will convey an appropriate message to viewers of your profile.

Recent reports have indicated that hiring managers use social networking sites for two reasons:

First, to locate possible candidates to fill positions; and second, to research possible candidates that have come to the company’s attention. Information on the Internet can have a significant impact on a company’s interest in a candidate.

But job hunting is not solely an online effort. The bulk of the decision-making is made over the phone or in person.

As mentioned earlier, social networking sites can be excellent ways of finding people you know inside a company of interest to you. That interest could be because of something you know about the company, a position you heard about at the company, or some other reason that would attract you.

Social networking sites can provide you with an inside connection who may be able to help you fi nd information about the company, department, or position. Depending on how well you know the person, they may be able to help you contact the right person or even give a recommendation to an influential person inside the company.

LinkedIn is just one of the social networking sites available; others include Facebook, Spoke, eCademy, and more.

Just last week, a person with whom I had worked had been interviewed for a position at a company. After the interview, he found through my LinkedIn profile that I have a colleague at the company. He reached out to me to see if I would contact that colleague to “put in a good word for him.”

Having worked with this candidate before and having previously recommended him on LinkedIn, I was happy to phone my colleague and relay my personal experiences with the candidate. My colleague was not the decision-maker, but said he would pass along the recommendation to the person who is. I don’t expect that my recommendation will get the candidate the position, but I do expect that it will help his chances. If so, I expect he’ll be buying me lunch.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 11 November 2009.

The Pleasant Family Photo Experience

2009-10-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

For years, I dreaded the family photo taken by the company that came to our church. Not only did the photo lack any sort of creativity (I was a budding photographer as a child), but I remember hearing my parents complain about the cost.

Plus, it was a pain. We had to dress up for the sitting, go and smile like we meant it, then come back a few weeks later when the fi lm had been processed and the proofs were ready. Then a pushy salesperson would try to sell us way too many photos that we didn’t really need.

As an adult, I have had similar reservations about the photography companies that come to our church.

It always seemed that we were paying way too much for the photos and receiving way too little.

But this weekend, I turned a corner.

Every few years, our church has invited Olan Mills to come and take pictures of our congregation.

Their commitment to the church is that every member will receive a complimentary 8-by-10 family portrait and a color directory of the church membership. Of course, they don’t make any money if people only go for the free stuff, so it’s implied that they’ll try to sell you photos of your family.

In the past, we’ve gone along with this and reluctantly purchased some of the photos for ourselves as well as some relatives.

But what has turned me around is how technology has affected Olan Mills’s ability to deliver real value for the money.

First, by making all of their photography digital, you have your photo and sales “consultation” in the same visit. I’m sure this saves Olan Mills lots of money because they only have to have people visit the site once. Additionally, I’m sure there were a lot of “no shows” for the second appointment.

Second, the ability to make shortruns of church directories means that the cost to offer these directories to congregations is far more affordable than it ever has been. And the fact that everything is digital and directto- printer means that they avoid huge costs of printing full color.

Third, retouching digital images can be automated, whereas retouching negatives or slides can be very time consuming.

Fourth, if there’s a problem with a photo, such as someone who blinked at the wrong time or a shadow that causes problems, they know (and remedy) it at the time of the photo rather than when it comes out of the darkroom.

Fifth, the software that Olan Mills uses for making the sale is clearly a custom-written application. It shows you exactly what you’re going to get, you can compare and contrast photos side by side, and it calculates the appropriate invoices right on the spot.

The only low-tech aspect I saw was an old dot matrix printer that hammered out receipts on multi-part paper. (I had thought they’d be using laser printers by now.)

Sixth, you can now receive your photos on a CD. My previous visit with Olan Mills did not allow them to provide you with a digital version of the files.

But this visit, the more product you bought, the cheaper the CD became, starting at $150 if you bought nothing down to a nominal $20 if you bought more than $150 worth of their products. While I believe you are restricted to using the photos for non-commercial applications, if I want to make a print of my family or children for relatives or other purposes, having a studio quality digital photo will certainly come in handy.

Lastly, when I look at what we received for our money, I don’t think I spent any more this year than I did a few years ago. And I believe I received more value for our money than I did last time.

I still think all the photos look a lot alike, but I’ve come to the realization that in a studio setting and for a directory, that similarity is really what we want.

There are plenty of other photographers who can take a family portrait at the beach, in a park or somewhere that will be more personal. I bet it’ll cost a lot more than our Olan Mills visit, though.

But I’m glad to see that at least one of the traveling photo studio companies has embraced technology that delivers more value for the money. Sometimes technology really delivers.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 28 October 2009.

The Dilemma of Being Connected

2009-10-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Before the Internet became a part of everyday life, it was easy to compartmentalize it because most of us had to access the Internet via a telephone dial-up connection. As this required one to be connected to a telephone land line,

Internet access required being in a physical location and not mobile.

Eventually, high speed Internet access became available which allowed people to be connected to the Internet all the time. WiFi gave people mobility within the small WiFi "bubbles".

And the WiFi bubbles populated nicely, only in the past few years with people securing them so that passersby couldn't jump on freely.

During this same time, mobile phones continued to be more functional, have longer battery lives, and receive far better geographic coverage.

When mobile phones started having Internet access, the ability for really mobile Internet access became a reality.

All of the major cellular carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint) offer high speed wireless Internet access for personal computers and handheld devices.

At each step along the way, there have been places where people have been out of the reach of modern communications. Some have considered being "disconnected" a benefit and others consider it to be a drawback.

Some of these disconnected places include one's automobile and on airplanes.

But even these disconnected places are no longer disconnected.

I recently saw a ruggedized device that can be put in cars that creates a WiFi hotspot for a half dozen users, say a family on a road trip or business associates on a long drive. A similar device called a MyFi allows up to five people to connect to a portable WiFi hotspot, again using the cellular network to connect.

But there's been one place that's been pretty certain you won't have Internet access: on airplanes.

Lufthansa tried in flight Internet access a few years ago and stopped. But AirCell (www.aircell.com) is one company bringing in flight Internet access is back with new airlines, including Delta, USAirways, American, Virgin America, and AirTran.

I'm taking a flight to California later this week on Delta and I plan on giving in flight Internet service a try. It will be curious to see how well it works with my laptop computer and whether some of the features that require reasonably good Internet access, such as making telephone calls using Skype or watching television shows using Hulu.com will work satisfactorily.

For many people who travel a lot, being on an airplane has been a bit of a respite, if not a frustration to be out of touch for any time at all. I know some who cherish the isolation because they can focus on their work without interruptions; I know others who can't wait until they land to check in with the office, clients, and eBay auctions.

As my trip this week will be with my family, whether I get to use my computer for myself or whether my kids will want it for themselves will depend on how fast the Internet connection is as well as whether there are individual TVs at each seat.

So while airplanes seemed to be one of the last few remaining places on earth without Internet access, I know that some backpackers and explorers still manage to do without the Internet for more than a few days at a time. However, even they - if they really want it - can take satellite Internet devices with them.

Maybe the next step go going without Internet will require leaving Earth, but I've been wanting that since I saw my first rocket launch as a young boy. I guess leaving Earth will be a few years in the future still.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 15 October 2009.

Augmented Reality

2009-09-30T01:26:00.000-07:00

Reality, like truth, has many different versions. Anyone who has watched the Matrix movies knows what I mean. Anyone who has ever watched "reality television" should also know how far from reality that is.

But there's an emerging technology term called "augmented reality," or AR. Here's how it works.

Computers have now become adept at taking pictures and video. We've all seen them draw maps and give directions. With GPS technology, computers know where they are. Their connection to the Internet means they have the full power of the knowledge on the Web at their fingertips. So what's needed is to tie this all together.

Augmented reality can do this.

In the examples I've seen of AR, it starts with a picture, typically a live picture. The computer will then use GPS or other location sensing technologies to figure out where it is. By using image recognition, the computer can try to determine what it's seeing, whether this be a building, a sign, a monument, or something else.

Tying all of these aspects together, the computer gets a pretty good idea of where you are and what it's seeing.

Then comes the interesting part: Helping you do something.

Say you are in Manhattan and want to get to Grand Central Terminal. Using a handheld device with AR, you can hold it up and point it at the world around you. It will then be able to tell you how to get to a subway entrance or which bus to take and where to wait for it.

If you're on vacation, AR can help you locate landmarks you'd like to see as well as provide you background information on what you're seeing.

The augmenting of reality comes into play by having the computer overlay text and/or graphics on top of the images the camera is displaying. Sometimes these augmented items just provide visual cues or they might provide additional information if you touch them. As you move the device around, the overlay information scrolls with the image. New information appears as parts of the image appear and old information disappears as the image leaves the screen.

In many ways, AR is similar to a "heads up" display that was originally used for military applications and has appeared on some high-end automobiles. Typical AR applications are being seen as iPhone or other handheld device applications, thereby reducing the cost of adoption from millions of dollars to a few dollars.

To see some examples of augmented reality, follow these links:

* http://www.worksnug.com/
* http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/24147/?a=f

AR is, of course, still an emerging technology. There are plenty of challenges with the technology, such as things that move, databases that are inaccurate, image recognition that doesn't work as well as we'd like, and a lack of applications.

However, the fact that it's possible for all of these data sources to be brought together in a way that consumers can easily use bodes well for AR's adoption. The ease with which people can develop applications for handheld devices such as the iPhone will also continue to drive adoption and innovation.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 30 September 2009.

3-D is Coming

2009-09-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

The fact that we have two eyes on the front of our heads means that we’re intended to see things in three dimensions (3-D). But so much of what we do every day is in two dimensions (2-D).

From books to computers, to movies and television, they’re all in 2-D. But we live in a 3-D world.

While making things in 3-D isn’t hard, especially if they’re tangible, such as statues, automobiles, dishes and furniture, the challenge is to simulate 3-D with technology.

My first recollection of 3-D was with the old ViewMaster discs. They consist of a plastic viewer and some discs with stereo images on it. By pressing a lever, the disc rotates and a new set of stereo images appears. I saw a lot of Disney stories that way as a kid and was fascinated by how it worked.

My next recollection of 3-D was with the books and movies in which one wears the red and green glasses and then, if you squint just right, you kind of see something in 3-D. The colors are all wrong, but there’s a sense of three dimensions.

Another technology that’s been around for a long time are sheets of lenticular paper which include a number of images that present themselves as one’s location in front of the paper changes. The classic example is the postcard of a woman who winks at you as the card is tilted.

In most instances, 3-D technology requires the user to wear some special glasses or use some type of equipment to make the 3-D images clear.

Most recently, there have been some pretty good 3-D movies. I recall taking my daughter to see the Hannah Montana 3-D movie. It was quite good. The glasses used two pieces of polarizing film to separate the two images on the screen. While darkening the screen a bit, the polarizing filters leave the colors substantially intact.

Another technology that works well is to have glasses with “shutters” that “blink” in sync with different frames being displayed on a screen. If this happens fast enough, the effect is not really noticeable. The challenge is to synchronize dozens or hundreds of inexpensive glasses to the system displaying the images.

These glasses with shutters work remarkably well, especially in keeping the brightness and color true.

The next frontier is, of course, home theatre, where people continue to spend much of their entertainment time. With image refresh speeds on current TVs being quite high, the ability to have “left eye/right eye” frames is becoming practical.

Another challenge beyond just the technology is the programming that will need to change. The addition of a third dimension could change how shows are thought of and produced.

For example, 3-D works best up-close (5-15 feet). Three-dimensional movies of the Grand Canyon have a different visual impact than cards being dealt at a poker game or a camera in a race car passing other cars.

The addition of 3-D to movies adds quite literally another dimension to the producer’s and director’s toolbox of how to communicate.

In the business world, 3-D will add new ways for business people to communicate. Much as color printers and video projectors changed the way people communicate, the addition of 3-D technology will also have an impact in our offices. Expect financial reports and projections to be far more visual and creative services far more impactful.

Given the current commercial 3-D offerings in the local cineplex, I anticipate consumer grade technologies within the next couple of years. And this time, I don’t expect 3-D to be relegated to another parlor curiosity. This time 3-D will become mainstream.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 16 September 2009.

Off to College

2009-08-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had the pleasure of dropping off a great person at his college. While I'm not his father, I've known him for six years and he's entering his junior year at Cornell.

This is his first year not living in a dorm. This year, he has an off-campus apartment with a roommate.

All of my parents worked at colleges or universities, so I grew up in the higher education culture. However, it's been more than a couple of decades since I graduated. And as it's been many years since I had any significant college connections, it was interesting to see how the college crowd lives nowadays and how their technology needs have changed.

I wasn't disappointed.

While I won't bore you with how it was in the "olden days," I will offer some observations of how things are done now.

First, not a chance anyone will have a land-line telephone: Mobile phones are the only way to go. Typically, students keep the phone number they received sometime in K-12. And since most mobile phone plans now include long distance, it doesn't matter what phone number you have, since it won't cost you anything extra to call long distance.

Second, Internet access is key. Even above cable TV, Internet rules. The $50/month is considered a necessary utility. If people in the same apartment can share a single Internet connection, they're all for that. There was much talk of positioning WiFi routers so that friends a couple of floors up could get a good signal. The possibility of stringing a wire into someone else's apartment to deliver Internet service was also a common discussion.

Third, televisions were nice, but not necessary. While there are certainly students with televisions, they're hardly the necessity that they once were. This is because virtually any television show or movie can be watched over the Internet. With computer monitors being upwards of 19-inches, the size of a computer monitor rivals that of a college dorm or apartment TV anyway.

Fourth, textbooks: These are going online, too. Rather than paying $100-plus for a textbook and then turning it back into the bookstore at the end of the semester for pennies on the dollar, many textbooks are being made available digitally, often times "rented" for the duration of the class. We'll see more of this as the book publishers, teachers, schools and students figure out how curriculums become more digital.

Fifth, student communications: E-mail is dead. Even making phone calls isn't as popular. Students communicate more and more with SMS texting, instant messaging and through sites such as Facebook. Have a club on campus that you want to let people know about? Set up a Facebook site and let people become "fans."

Sixth, music: OK, there is one area where I will talk about how it was in the "olden days" - stereos. These used to have a prominent location in any college dorm or apartment. Not so nowadays. Don't get me wrong, music is very important to college students, but with their MP3 players, iTunes and other sources of music, having the large stereo system just doesn't make sense anymore. Even most radio stations stream their broadcasts, so if you want to listen to NPR or the local country station, you can listen to the broadcast from your personal computer.

It was great to go back to college for a day and see how much things have changed as well as how they've stayed the same.

I don't know whether it's helped prepare me for when my 11-year-old daughter goes to college in a few years or scared me.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 26 August 2009.

When to Upgrade?

2009-08-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

I’m not one of those people who likes to throw good stuff away.

I typically keep my cars at least 10 years, my digital camera’s picture counter just rolled over 10,000 and my 4-year-old son is driving his big sister’s electric powered Barbie Jeep.

Part of this longevity comes from my parents’ insistence that I take care of the things so they’ll last a long time. Another part of this comes from my not wanting to spend money unnecessarily.

Luckily, in my business, I have an opportunity to try many of the new technologies without actually having to buy them.

But what happens when a new technology comes along that I really want? And what do I say when people ask me about when they should upgrade their technology? They’re tough questions. In a business, companies will typically lease equipment. When the lease is up, they can either buy out the lease or return the equipment and start a new lease with new equipment. Other than with automobiles, most individuals don’t lease things.

For most home users, a computer will work far longer than any extended warranty. There are two categories of problems people ask me about regarding their computers.

First, it’s too slow or crashes. This is a function of having loaded a lot of software over the years, typically Web downloads that are needed for video, audio, or whatever. In most instances, these downloads are needed for a specific use, but are rarely, if ever, used again. Since they reside on the computer, they can use extra processor cycles and cause confl icts with other pieces of software.

The easiest solution to this dilemma is to back up your data files, then wipe the hard drive and re-install the necessary pieces of software, typically the operating system (Windows or Macintosh) and applications such as Microsoft Office. I know for me, this is a full weekend of work to perform, so it’s not something I take on lightly. In most cases, this will free up 20 to 30 percent of a hard drive’s space, eliminate most software conflicts and speed up the computer by at least 25 percent.

Second, there’s some new software that people want to run that’s incompatible with their current computer.

For example, if someone wants to run the new Windows 7 operating system, there are certain minimum specifi - cations (CPU and memory) that are needed for it to run satisfactorily. If a computer is below those specifi cations, sometimes the software won’t load or, if it does, the performance will be disappointing. In this case, one needs to decide whether the upgrade is worth buying a whole new computer or not. Cell phones are another challenge.

These days, not a month rolls by without a new shiny phone hitting the market, sometimes it seems like there are dozens of new models — BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, or something else. You may ask yourself, do I need another computer that runs applications or am I just looking for something that makes telephone calls?

Most important to me is the monthly cost of having all these extra services. It’s not unusual for a monthly service plan that includes phone, Internet and texting to cost $100 per phone.

It’s clear to me that with the monthly cost of cell phones rising, that’s leading to more and more homes going without a traditional land line.

When it comes to cell phones, I split my loyalties between my business and personal use. I’m far more interested in a full plan for business-related use than I am for personal use, but that can mean I carry two cell phones. Ugh! And, of course, I can’t forget the time I sent my cell phone through the washing machine. That required a replacement.

My digital cameras are the final challenge. Until recently, I’ve had to maintain two cameras: one for still photos and a second one for video. Both performed their jobs admirably and neither did what the other did. This has been a real pain to carry and manage two cameras.

Now, though, with the advent of the still cameras that shoot “High Defi nition” video, I see that digital photography is pretty close to reaching the proverbial tipping point when an upgrade is desirable.

To me, I upgrade my equipment only when it’s preventing me from doing something I fi nd compelling. That point will be different for each person, but I’ve learned that the longer I wait, the happier I am with the upgrade.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 5 August 2009.

Social Media Goes Mainstream

2009-07-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

The Internet has morphed again. And most of us — certainly in my age bracket — don’t get it.

It’s called “social media.” What it is depends on who you ask, but it’s generally considered tools such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and similar Web sites.

I’ve wrestled with social media and only recently have seen its value.

For example, why should I care about Twitter when each message is a maximum of 140 characters long? Why should I stare at a Facebook page and “friend” people who are already my friends?

Yes, it’s a whole new language and a new way of doing things. But that’s the point. The Internet has, yet again, enabled us to do things that we weren’t able to do before.

Here are some examples of how social media is changing the world:

• In journalism, Twitter lets anyone instantly publish anything to the world without being deemed important, meaningful — or accurate! When the U.S. Airways plane landed in the Hudson, people were notifying others via Twitter within seconds.

• In elections, the Obama campaign credits part of its success to its use of social media. Obama was able to connect to, mobilize and get out the vote of its supporters in ways that have never been used before.

• In politics, the White House is now providing technology leadership for the country. Building on its campaign success, Obama’s recent speech in Cairo was simultaneously broadcast on the major television networks, but also streamed live on the Internet and Twittered in multiple different languages, allowing the White House to have direct communications with people around the world.

• In business, companies are able to create ways of connecting with their customers in ways that don’t require an ad agency, public relations firm, or other layer. The feedback is faster — and unfiltered — which allows companies to respond quicker to both good and bad news, providing a competitive advantage.

Looking back a couple of decades, the laser printer and desktop publishing software allowed everyone to become a publisher. Newsletters for schools, groups, and companies started to increase by the boat-load.

Similarly, the Internet and social media have allowed everyone to become a broadcaster with global reach. Anyone can now connect with people both locally and globally and have instant communication with them. In many cases, people who you only know or see in print or on television are now accessible directly.

At recent conferences I’ve attended, the message has been clear. Walls of control are being knocked down. Transparency is becoming both the norm and the standard. It will also be harder for people and companies to hide the truth.

At the same time, it will be easier for people with different points of view or incorrect information to have a similarly loud voice. This is where, I believe, a person’s or company’s brand will help us determine what we should or should not believe. We will determine what sources of information we can and will listen to and trust.

The other message that is becoming clear is that people of a similar mindset will be able to connect with each other over the Internet using social media. If you have an interest in global warming, quilt making, diabetes, terraforming, pinball machines, or just about any other subject, you will find people of a like-mind with whom you can communicate.

Each of these tools I’ve mentioned (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn) are all free. I encourage you to sign up for them one by one and try them out. As with all things Internet, I predict that the tools will change, but the underlying functions will remain the same.

But get a start with social media or expand your knowledge of it. I predict you’ll make some new friends or become re-acquainted with some people you haven’t connected with in quite a while.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 8 July 2009.

The Moon Forty Years Later

2009-07-07T06:05:00.000-07:00

On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took mankind’s first steps on the moon. I remember this very clearly because I was a young boy on vacation in Utah that July. I was at my Aunt Avice and Uncle Theron’s home. Late at night, my cousins and I were glued to the television.

But this evening was the culmination of nearly a decade of a national initiative to put a man on the moon — before the Russians. It was President John F. Kennedy who committed to putting a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

With each launch over the course of the decade, the Gemini and Apollo programs continued to make ever more exciting events as we moved closer to our moon goal.

As we learned in the “Toy Story” movies, it was Buzz Lightyear’s space theme that had Woody become the second toy. So was it with America that the nation was behind the race to the moon.

But back to my Utah vacation. My Aunt Avice took us outside and had us look up at the night sky. I remember my Aunt Avice telling all of the children: “Look up at the moon. There are people walking on it. You’ll remember this for the rest of your lives.”

Indeed, that was a night that I have remembered for these 40 years. I don’t remember what else I did that summer, but I do remember looking at the moon knowing people were up there walking on it.

In the 40 years since that summer night, the world’s space exploration has certainly taken a very different direction than I had anticipated as I gazed at the moon. I had expected that the moon would be just the first step as we looked further beyond to Mars and other planets in our solar system before venturing far beyond.

As we all know, our space program has consisted primarily of numerous unmanned missions to Mars and the space shuttle which has been responsible for support of the Hubble telescope and the international space station.

Our mission to the moon had huge funding available for it: 4.4 percent of the federal budget versus 0.5 percent now. These programs are expensive.

No one argues that. I, for one, believe they’re worth every penny, especially when one considers the long-term scientific and medical advances that come about from “pushing the envelope” into space. I have often wished that there was a box on my tax return that would allow me to contribute some amount of money toward the space program. I would happily do so.

NASA’s next venture is the Constellation project which has as its mandate supporting the International Space Station, trips to the moon and after the year 2030, hopefully a trip to Mars.

As I look at the moon this July, I will think of that summer in Utah and continue to be amazed what has been done, what can be done and look forward to seeing the wonder in my children’s eyes as they look skyward.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Tuesday 30 June 2009.

Preserving the Memories

2009-06-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

All memories fade. That's why keeping memories alive is an ongoing challenge, especially when technology is used - and technology is changing so rapidly.

Let me start with the bottom line: low-tech solutions work the best for longevity. The reason is that the less technology they use, the less they are subject to changes in technology that make them obsolete.

Here are some examples.

For still photographs, probably the best technology to use is black and white photography that uses silver based imaging. You will notice that some of the best archived photographs we have are black and white. This is because black and white photography predates color photography, but is mainly due to the stable nature of silver based photographs. Once properly developed, the image will last for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Color photography, on the other hand, starts to color shift after a few years. Look at almost any family photo album more than 20 years old and you'll see various color shifts, typically with a red or orange cast, that are not what was originally printed. While color photographs obviously provide more realistic images of people, they will inevitably fade.Movies are similarly affected. My history only goes back to 8-mm and Super 8 movies, but looking at them now indicates that they, too, have faded. The bigger problem with movies is finding a projector for them. I don't know of anyone who has a movie projector anymore. Transferring them to video is a good option, but can add up to some sizeable dollars if you have a lot of footage.

I've been wrestling with my own family archives for a long time. Backing files up to floppy disks was nominally successful, but that would also require transferring files from five-and-one-quarter-inch floppies to three-and-a-half-inch floppies and now to no floppies at all. CD-ROMs arrived in force more than a decade ago, only to be replaced with DVDs. Now with Blu-Ray DVDs available (albeit still quite expensive), we have yet another format to deal with.

Frankly, most people don't have time to perform the migration from one media to another. So here's what I've done.

For prints, I've tried to standardize on high-quality Epson printers, inks and papers that claim to be "archival," meaning they should last 20 or more years. I'll know in 20 or more years how good the claims are. And, since we don't have film negatives or slides anymore, what I do is put the image's file name on the print itself, so I can connect the photo back to the original file name if I ever need to.

For movies, I've standardized on standard definition DVDs. While I have a HiDef camcorder, I still can't justify the $10 per recordable Blu-Ray DVD to use as a backup. I'm hoping, although not completely convinced, that the cost of Blu-Ray media will drop dramatically so as to make creating Blu-Ray DVDs affordable. I recall when a blank CD cost $50 and now they cost pennies. I'm hoping that history will repeat itself.

The challenge I have faced is that of not only backing up data, but also reading it. To wit, although some of my early five-and-one-quarter-inch floppy disks may still be readable, I don't know anyone who has a personal computer with a floppy disk drive on it. And if they do, would I be able to move the files from that computer to something else? Probably not. The early personal computers were just that - personal. The thought of networking them was challenging; the thought of the Internet hadn't yet even been invented.

So, while my crystal ball is not perfect, I'm betting that CD/DVD drives will be around for at least a few more decades. That way, if I need to move a file from one media to another, I should be able to find a computer and some software that can do so.

Some have asked why I don't just store my data using an online storage company. In fact, I do. However, most of the online storage companies are backups of your local hard drives, which means that you have to keep the files on your hard drive so they can mirror them on their site.

The biggest problem I have is that if I were to keep all of my data online - especially video - I'd need terabytes of hard disk space, which I don't have and don't want to buy. In addition, should that company go out of business or otherwise be unavailable, I would lose my data. As a result, I keep a file folder filled with DVDs of my family videos.

So, while the shoebox of old is no longer, there's nothing saying it can't be updated to include prints from digital cameras and even movies on DVD. Some memories are worth preserving.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 17 June 2009.

Chuck the Keyboard and Mouse

2009-06-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Interacting with computers has changed over the years.

A keyboard has been the traditional way of communicating with computers. My first interaction with computers was on a teletype, but punched cards and punched paper tape were also popular. This was way back in the 1970s.

Keyboards are still around, but probably the most popular way to interact with computers came with the addition of a mouse. Now, virtually every computer has a mouse attached to it, whether it be a physical mouse, trackball, or some form of touchpad.

But all that’s changing. New and innovative ways are becoming very popular for interacting with computers.

Touch screens have been around for quite a while. Most were used for kiosks, such as what you’ll find at the Metro-North train stations for buying tickets. Touch screens are also quite popular in restaurants and other areas where a specific function is being performed.

But touch screens have not been very popular for people using computers in their homes or businesses.

This is because touch screens have typically been able only to sense a button being pressed.

New touch screen hardware and software allows computers to understand not only touches, but “gestures” such as sliding, stretching and shrinking, and other commands.

Apple’s iPhone and iTouch devices are the most common implementation of small touch screen applications. Unlocking an iPhone is done by sliding one’s finger on the screen. Owners of the device are also familiar with sliding through the album covers to find the songs they want.

Users of many of the iPhone and iTouch applications are also familiar with the device’s ability to sense motion and tilting. This is put to use in many games and also through some interesting functions, such as a bubble level like that used in construction.

Microsoft’s Surface technology (http://www.microsoft.com/surface/) is an example of how our interface with computers could also be changed dramatically. Typical demonstrations illustrate functions such as sorting photos and videos, social media applications and games in which hand interaction is more important.

Eventually, we’ll start seeing computer interactions much like Tom Cruise used in the movie “The Minority Report,” where the images were displayed in the air and he used his arms to manipulate the images. That’s still a few years off, but is a clear indication of where man-machine interfaces are going.

The iPhone and iTouch are remarkable devices and the interface is clearly impressive. What I see the interface doing is spawning many new uses of computers that were either too awkward or simply inconceivable with a traditional keyboard and mouse.

I don’t expect that the keyboard and mouse will ever fully disappear. Voice recognition technology is still a long way off so writing a letter, e-mail or text message still requires a keyboard or some similar interface. Working on a spreadsheet still requires typing in numbers and formulas. But a decade from now, I’m sure we’ll look back at these functions and chuckle at how old fashioned they are.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 3 June 2009.

Fewer trips to the Post Office

2009-05-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

My family loves to go to the Post Office. Not only are the postal workers friendly, but they’re always helpful and kid-friendly. Unless I stop and gab, we’re usually in and out in a few minutes.

But I don’t always have time to get to the post office to weigh a package, obtain the correct postage and generally get the package on its way. Furthermore, I’m also terrible at keeping a chart that tells me the cost of postage.

So off to the Post Office I go every so often. But what if visits to the Post Office didn’t have to happen so frequently?

Of course there’s FedEx and UPS that can ship packages for you, but sometimes just a fat envelope may not warrant one of those carriers.

So I started exploring to see how postal services have changed. The two biggest services are Stamps.com (www.stamps.com) and Endicia (www.endicia.com).

Stamps.com provides a single service for $19.95 per month that seems pretty comprehensive for small businesses. What intrigued me the most is the variety of postage and labeling options available. This includes printing not only stamps, but also shipping labels, doing mail-merges, printing directly on to envelopes and more.

Endicia offers a broader array of services, including a free service (no monthly fee, but you still have to pay for postage and consumables, specifically labels). Their services quickly move up the fee scale, starting at $9.95 per month to $99.95 per month and offer a variety of features, such as return shipping labels, business reply mail and links to UPS and FedEx.

Each company has tried to match their service to specific market segments, but is targeting people who have postage meters in their offices. And both companies succeed quite nicely.

Both services allow a digital scale to be attached to your computer and some software that looks at the destination address, calculates the appropriate postage and prints the label. This feature is attractive and works well.

In both cases, there are special labels that must be purchased to accommodate the postage software. In most instances, this can add $0.07 or more to the cost of a shipment. If you’re sending out hundreds of letters, this can add up. However, if you’re sending out a few packages a day, this premium is reasonable.

These labels are typically run through a laser, inkjet or even one of the thermal label printers such as from Dymo or Brother.

In looking at both services, I found that as a typical home user, only the free service from Endicia would be attractive, but only a bit. It lets you print postage, but not weigh packages and do some of the other items that I consider a basic necessity. Given the small volume of things I send, I’m unwilling to pay a monthly fee to have the ability to weigh and send packages from my home.

If I were running a small business in my home, either service would be worth looking into. For offices that have considered a postage meter, but may not want to get tied into the contracts that are typically required, these services also offer a nice alternative.

Of surprising note is that the United States Postal Service (USPS) offers some of the same services for free from its Web site at www.usps.com. At the USPS Web site, you can print labels and postage with no monthly fee and with no premium payment.

The Postal Service has done a very nice job at putting their business online.

Finally, U.S. postal rates went up on May 11. They could go up again in the future so buy some extra “Forever Stamps” at the Post Office (or online at USPS.com) and save yourself a few pennies for every letter you mail.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 13 May 2009.

eBooks

2009-04-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

Ink on paper. It’s been around for thousands of years. But computers are certainly leaving their mark on the publishing industry and how we consume books and information.

Newspapers were the first to start putting their content on the Internet. Text and photos are pretty easy to put online. Media requiring higher bandwidth, such as music and video/TV, came next as high-speed Internet connections started becoming commonplace in homes and offices.

Newspapers and magazines have a number of ways to deliver their content electronically. A Web browser provides one view that’s vastly different than the print versions. Some magazines have wanted to retain their bound look and feel and use products such as Zinio (www.zinio.com) to mimic the look and feel of a magazine on a computer.

Books, on the other hand, have always been an “offline” read. But not any more. A number of companies are now producing eBooks and eBook readers, most notably Amazon’s Kindle, which is now in its second generation - the Kindle 2 ($359). Sony’s Reader Digital Book ($349) is also providing serious competition. (Photo of Kindle 2 courtesy of Amazon.com)

What’s compelling about these products is that they let people carry large amounts of information with them in very little space and with very little weight.

The Kindle is smaller than a piece of standard paper and about 1/3” thick. The Sony device’s specs are similar.

Also key to these new devices’s success is the clarity of the screens. Even computer monitors are fuzzy by comparison to the new eBook readers. This is in large part to the screens from e.ink (www.eink.com), which provide very low power, high clarity screens, making long viewing easy on the eyes.

What the current e.ink screens don’t (yet) provide are good image quality. They do allow for some black and white images, but color images are still not available.

eBook readers aren’t new. More than 10 years ago, I published information on earlier generations of eBook readers. Unfortunately, the earlier generations had issues of screen readability, capacity, battery life, weight, and on and on.

The new generation of eBook readers are far superior. I’m just trying to figure out if they’ll catch on.

My guess is that they will, although it may take another generation or two before the devices make it mainstream. Here’s why:

First, color: You gotta have color. I say this having started with monochrome computer screens and, except for a few special situations, color is all anyone will have. I also started with monochrome printers and now color is clearly the most prevalent.

Second, multimedia: Along with color, the ability to have interactive eBooks will set them apart from their paper counterpart. For example, a travel book could include photos, as well as videos of the beaches, surfing, rides and other attractions.

Third, cost: At approximately $350, this is a hefty price to pay for a little device. It’s now possible to purchase a usable laptop computer for $350 (perhaps a Netbook) that already supports the first two items. As volumes increase, this cost will most likely go down. When it dips below $100, it will have hit the mainstream.

Fourth, applications that make an eBook compelling: Multimedia is the start, but if one looks at the success of platforms such as the iPhone/iTouch, Google’s Android and RIM’s Blackberry, it’s the applications that are helping to sell the hardware.

Fifth, re-invention of the book: The move to eBooks provides the opportunity for books as we know them to be redefined. Perhaps the eBooks could have author’s comments, other readers comments on the book (maybe even family members), as well as background material, etc. My crystal ball isn’t clear on this, but I’m excited about the potential.

The one challenge I haven’t figured out how to solve on eBooks (or Web sites for that matter), is acquiring the randomness of a magazine or newspaper. Specifically, as I read newspapers and magazines, I regularly stumble across a story, advertisement or other item that catches my attention and is of interest to me — one that I would never have sought out. The randomness of this information can be very valuable and I hope there’s a way to maintain it in the future.

In the meantime, I will enjoy carrying less printed materials when I travel or commute. An eBook reader is one way to do just that.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a Westport resident, was named by Computerworld magazine to their list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 22 April 2009.

Blu-ray at the Library

2009-04-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

A little over a year ago, I picked up a Sony PlayStation 3 game machine. While the Nintendo Wii has clearly been the game machine of choice for many households, what tipped the scales for me was the Blu-ray DVD drive in the PlayStation.

With the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray having been won early last year by Sony’s Blu-ray, it was pretty clear that Blu-ray was the format of choice.

Just so you know, not every DVD is created the same. A standard DVD that you will pick up at Blockbuster or NetFlix, while far clearer than VHS videotape, still presents video in standard definition.

Blu-ray DVDs, by comparison, contain video in High Definition, which provides far more data than standard definition DVDs.

By way of comparison, a standard DVD contains about 4 Gigabytes of data while a Blu-ray DVD contains about 50 Gigabytes of data. All of that extra data goes primarily to providing higher quality video and audio.

But, the challenge in playing a Blu-ray DVD is that you have to have a DVD player that knows how to read the Blu-ray disc. For most people, this means buying a new DVD player or, as in my case, purchasing a Sony PlayStation 3 with a Blu-ray DVD player built in.

Unfortunately, most Blu-ray DVD players have hovered in the $300-$400 range. Over the holiday season, I saw Blu-ray DVD players drop to about $150-$200, although the high-end ones are still available.

In most cases, a Blu-ray DVD player will play all previous formats of DVDs, so you shouldn’t need TWO DVD players.

To get the most out of your Blu-ray DVDs, you’ll also need a High Definition TV (HDTV). Most new flat panel TVs are High Definition with a spec of 720p, 1080i, or 1080p, with 1080p being considered “Full HD,” although all resolutions yield remarkable images.

When I purchased my PlayStation last year, I thought I’d see what the Westport Public Library has in Blu-ray. I was disappointed to find out that they didn’t have any Blu-ray in their extensive video collection.

But boy, was I pleased when I went to the library about two weeks ago and found a whole rack of Blu-ray DVDs in their distinctive light blue jewel cases! In speaking with one of the librarians and looking up Blu-ray on the Library’s Web site, I see that the library now has about 90 different Blu-ray titles. And more are on their way.

Most movie studios are publishing DVDs in multiple formats, typically standard definition and Blu-ray. This, unfortunately, means that organizations such as the library must purchase two copies of a title in order to meet the demand for both formats, although this means that the library will have two copies for people to check out.

In looking at some of the Blu-ray DVDs in both my personal collection and from others, the visual difference is stunning – Blu-ray is clearly superior. The impact is far more noticeable with certain genres, such as action, sports, and nature, but even a “date night” movie looks a whole lot better on Blu-ray.

The main reason for the better look is the amount of data that makes up the video stream. As I mentioned, standard definition DVDs contain much less data than Blu-ray DVDs. In addition, watching High Definition movies from cable, satellite providers, or Internet sources can contain compressed video signals that can lose some or much of the crispness. But a video signal coming from a Blu-ray DVD is uncompressed with every bit and pixel in its splendid glory on your screen.

Some have said that online video services that deliver videos to your computer or television over the Internet will sound the death knell for all DVDs, including Blu-ray. I don’t disagree, but know that there are some hurdles to be overcome, especially for the videophiles that like very high quality audio and video quality. To date, none of the online services I’ve seen provide the same level of quality as a Blu-ray DVD.

So, if you have or are considering buying a Blu-ray DVD player, check out the Blu-ray discs at the Westport Public Library. Blu-ray continues to help make the home theatre experience better.

Mark Mathias is a 30+ year veteran of information technology, a resident of Westport, Connecticut, and was named by Computerworld magazine to their list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders”. This column originally appeared in Westport News on Wednesday 8 April 2009.

Continuing Typewriterless

2009-03-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

I’ve been writing this column for more than six years. I receive a number of comments from people about the columns I write, but none more than the one I wrote in 2005 about my trusty IBM Selectric typewriter.

At the time, I still felt I needed one around for the various tasks that are needed in everyday life, including addressing packages and envelopes, filling out forms and various other home tasks.

But I actually sold my typewriter at a garage sale a few years ago and have been typewriterless ever since.

At first, it was hard to go without my typewriter, but I’ve actually managed to do without it quite nicely. Two things have helped with that:

First, I purchased a label printer that hooks up to my computer. It’s a Dymo LabelWriter 400 Turbo. With it, I can print address labels, name tags and even postage stamps.

The software integrates with my contact management software, so I can print a label to a person without having to re-type their name and address. The software even looks up their ZIP code, inserts a postal bar code and reformats the address to the U.S. Postal Service specifications.

The software allows me to do a mail merge so I can print just a few — or hundreds — of labels automatically.

Where I used to print labels on my laser printer, this label printer has completely eliminated the use of both my laser printer for printing labels as well as the need for my typewriter.

Brother also makes a competing label printer, but I’ve not given it a try.

The only downside to the label printer is that it connects to my computer via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port rather than to the network with an Ethernet port.

I did see recently that Dymo now offers a device that allows the LabelWriter to connect to the network so that all computers in my home can use the printer, but the device costs $100, so I haven’t sprung for it, yet.

Second, Adobe Acrobat’s form filling feature makes the use of my typewriter unnecessary.

What the form filling feature does is allow the user to see a form and type on the form just where you would normally handwrite or type. The rest of the form remains uneditable.

Acrobat allows forms to have not only fields where you can enter text such as your name or company, but it also allows check boxes to select items, and numeric fields, such as order forms or tax forms.

While Acrobat has had a form filling feature for a long time, most Acrobat PDF files didn’t use the feature. This is because the creator of the form has to tell Acrobat about the nature of these fields to be filled in.

The United States federal government has made most of its downloadable PDF files fillable using the Adobe Acrobat software. Most state governments have followed suit. Cities and towns I’ve informally experienced are less consistent in their adoption of fillable PDF files.

Adobe freely distributes the Acrobat Reader software. It includes the ability to fill in forms, but not to create them. To create Acrobat documents, one of the fee-based software products is needed, typically Acrobat Standard, Pro, or Pro Extended.

Creating forms using Acrobat is pretty easy, but it does require some additional work on the part of the forms creator. The amount of extra work is based on the complexity and length of the document. I’ve seen some basic “fill in the blanks” PDF documents as well as some PDF documents that perform calculations and have a lot of dynamic content.

But my point is that as Acrobat has come into its own and I have not regretted giving up my Selectric. In fact, my mother is getting ready to downsize her home and has a Selectric sitting in her office that she’s not going to keep. As fun as it would be to have, I’m going to let a historian have it for his museum.

This column initially appeared in the Wednesday 25 March 2009 issue of Westport News.

Why Not to Buy a New Computer

2009-03-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

I love the latest techy gadget as much as the next person. They're fun to play with, show your friends and goof around with. Some of them even make it into my life, adding real value.

One of the most important items in my life is my personal computer. Hardly a day goes by that I don't use it. It has to work well or I'm in deep trouble.

My reasons for not buying a new computer have nothing to do with the current economic condition or any technical reasons. It's just a lot of work after I open the box.

I am an admitted fan of Toshiba laptop computers. Toshiba doesn't have the market share like the Dells, Lenovos and HPs, but I've used most of the major brands and Toshiba laptop computers have served me well over the years.

So when my old laptop needed to be replaced, I went out and bought a new one. I ended up with another Toshiba and the latest version of Vista - the 64-bit version.

My reasons for not wanting to replace my computer were realized in full again.

Because so much of my life is spent using a personal computer, the biggest hassle of a new computer is moving all of my old stuff to my new computer and getting it all to work.

If I didn't have to retain any old files and e-mails or integrate into a network at home or in the office, a new computer would be a breeze.

But it just ain't so.

Part of it is my own fault because I'm a packrat when it comes to saving files. Part of it is because my technical environment serves me quite well when it's running right . . . but I don't have an off-the-shelf technical environment.

The challenge starts with purchasing upgrades to most of the software, this time ensuring that it's Vista 64-bit compatible.

If there are any device drivers, such as for printers or scanners, you have to go find all of the latest drivers and install them. As my home and office environments are reasonably complicated, this takes some time . . . meaning a couple of days.

While I found that most of my equipment is compatible with the new hardware and software, I was disappointed with two major items:

First, I discovered that Quicken 2009 is not compatible with the Hewlett Packard printers I have under Vista 64-bit. A fix was announced for January and checking the Quicken Web site this morning, the fix is not yet available.

Second, I discovered that my Canon digital camera, which was purchased two years ago, is incompatible with Vista 64-bit. Where I used to be able to plug the camera into the USB port on the laptop computer, Canon support attempted to convince me that it's actually more beneficial to buy a $10 conversion gadget that will let me transfer my photos to my computer. The problem is not with spending $10, but the fact that this is an extra thing I have to carry with me.

Moving word processing, spreadsheet, photos and other files from one computer to another isn't all that difficult. Microsoft actually offers a free utility that will move your files and preferences from one computer to another. The utility will even configure your e-mail account, as long as it's a Microsoft product, such as Outlook.

As I don't exclusively use Microsoft products, moving files from one computer to another can be time-consuming and tedious at best. Most software manufacturers don't offer utilities - or even instructions - on moving applications and data from one computer to another. This necessitates taking some calculated, but necessary risks to set up the new computer. Sometimes the move doesn't work, so it needs to be done a couple of times.

I'm also an advocate of online remote backups of data. I happen to use Mozy (www.mozy.com), although there are a number of very good alternatives. The problem with a new computer is that I have to re-backup the new computer. Given that I backup more than 40 Gb of data, this easily takes a day of the computer doing nothing but sending data to the backup site over the Internet.
So, while I'm very pleased with my new computer, it's not something I relish doing frequently. In fact, I'll typically trudge along with an older computer for an extra year or so rather than face the work needed to get the new computer.

Now that I've had my new computer for a couple of months, it's almost all set up. Now I don't have to worry about a new computer for a couple of years.

This column originally appeared in the Westport News on Wednesday 11 March 2009.

When Size Does Matter

2009-02-25T08:40:00.000-08:00

Technology seems to constantly strive toward shrinking everything. Smaller computers, smaller phones, smaller chips and everything much more portable.

While I do like and benefit from the increased portability of smaller devices, sometimes smaller isn’t necessarily best.

But this column is about screen sizes.

Some of the first desktop computers I had used 13-inch monitors, which seemed positively enormous. The advent of graphical interfaces, multi-tasking and more sophisticated applications required more screen “real estate,” or pixels.

Where a typical e-mail or word processing application fits nicely on a small screen, applications such as video editing have far more information being displayed that just don’t fit on a small screen.

Due to the relatively high cost of larger screens, the inevitable result of a larger need for screen pixels resulted in higher resolution screens. But as the screen resolution increased and the screen size didn’t keep up, millions of us have started to use their glasses in order to see what we’re working on.

While it’s always been possible to add extra monitors to computers, the setup has always been tricky and required pretty good technical skills.

A little-known feature of Windows XP and Vista allows every computer to support two monitors. While this typically requires a second video card, some computers, - even laptop computers -- now have more than one connector to support multiple monitors. For laptop computers, a docking station or port replicator can usually add a second video port.

So when I saw some 22-inch monitors for under $200 recently, I thought now was a good time to expand my desktop real estate.

Hooking one up to my computer convinced me that I would never go back.

It’s as though the rain has stopped, the clouds have parted and the sun has come out.

It’s now possible to have multiple applications open and see all of them at the same time. Now it’s possible to have simultaneous windows for e-mail, Web, word processing and spreadsheet. No overlapping, no switching between windows, everything visible at the same time.

I never quite understood what the stock traders and other multi-display people did with all of that screen space. But now that I have it on my desk, I understand why people have put up with all of the difficulties of multiple monitor setups for so many years.

I continue to see very affordable prices -- under $200 -- on large (22” and up) flat screen monitors for computers. With the increasing need for visual space on computer screens, the simplicity of setting it up and the affordability of these larger monitors, this is a wonderful opportunity to break out of the small screens to which many of us gaze for so many hours.

This column originally appeared in the Westport News on Wednesday 25 February 2009.

Saving Money With Technology

2009-02-11T07:44:00.000-08:00

As the economic climate continues to concern people, there are some ways that you can use to save money through the use of technology. Here are a few that you might want to consider:

Use a Prepaid Cell Phone Every time I see a cell phone plan costing $100 or more for “everything included,” I wonder whether it’s worth it for an individual. If what you need is a mobile phone to make just a few calls per month (or decide you can make just a few calls per month), a pre-paid phone service may be just for you. You pay for just your usage, and while the per-minute charges are higher than with a more robust plan, if you keep your usage down, you could spend a whole lot less for your mobile phone plan.

Check out the “triple play” with your cable provider Cablevision provides my Internet and television service and they had been hounding me about adding a phone line to my service (thus the “triple play”, http://www.optimum .com/order /triple_play.jsp). In looking at it, the triple play adds a new service (telephone), but ended up dropping my overall bill to Cablevision by about $20 per month — even after adding a phone line.

As I don’t need an extra phone line, the phone sites near my cable modem unused, but I’m still saving $20 per month. The special triple play promotion lasts for one year. At that time, I’ll see what offerings Cablevision has, and may or may not keep it depending upon what it’ll cost me.

Consider a VoIP phone service VoIP means making telephone calls over the Internet. I’ve long been a Vonage (www.vonage.com) fan, but as I mentioned above, Cablevision provides VoIP service, as do many other providers. Two things to be careful about VoIP services:

First, in a power outage, unless all of your network equipment is on a battery backup, your phone service will not work.

Second, you have to have good speed on your Internet service for it to work. Dial-up won’t cut it. Some DSL circuits won’t be fast enough. Virtually any cable Internet service here in Fairfield County will work just fine.

Note that most of the landline carriers, such as AT&T, now offer competitive pricing on traditional phone service that matches the pricing and calling areas of the VoIP services, although they tend to leave out some of the features.

Save money on software When it comes to buying software, here are a few options from free to very inexpensive. If you have a computer, you’ll probably need more than the basic software that comes with it.

For free, you have a few options:

• First, OpenOffice — OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org) is free software that provides the bulk of the features of Microsoft Office.

• Second, Google Docs — Google Docs (docs.google.com) provides free word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software. This pretty much requires you to have Internet access all the time, but if you’re using a desktop computer from home, this isn’t much of a problem. Google does support some offline use of Google Docs, but it’s not as robust as software that runs on your computer without full-time access to the Internet.

• Third, Microsoft Office for Students — Microsoft offers a specially-priced version of its office software for students. This is typically around $99 for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. What’s missing from the package is Outlook, which is used for e-mail. But, if your e-mail application is Gmail, Yahoo!, AOL, or another Web-based application, this is not important.

• Fourth, if you are a student at a college or university, Microsoft offers you what they call the “Ultimate Steal,” which includes most of Microsoft’s desktop applications for $59.99. This includes: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Groove, Publisher, Access, InfoPath and Accounting Express. See: http://tinyurl.com /6xogbt. Check the site for eligibility, but it’s the sweetest deal around for Microsoft software if you qualify.

There are some real bargains out there and ways that technology can save you money if you keep your eyes open for them.

Two more technologies bite the dust

2009-01-28T01:00:00.000-08:00

Every year, new technologies are introduced. What we don’t often hear about are technologies that are retired.

Two very different technologies were retired in 2008.

First, paper music rolls for player pianos. The last manufacturer of paper music rolls for player pianos ceased production at the end of 2008.

I only vaguely recall one of my relatives having a player piano that used these paper rolls to play music. The piano was a pump version where someone had to sit on the piano bench and alternately pump two pedals on the floor, not unlike riding a bicycle.

If you’re not familiar with a player piano, it looked like a regular piano, but where the music sits, wooden slats would open up to reveal an area where a scroll of paper could be inserted. The scroll was about 12- to 14-inches wide and had holes in it. As the paper would move from one spool to another, holes in the paper would move across jets of air. If the jets of air found an opening, the key associate with the jet would play.

Somehow, pumping the pedals provided both the mechanical motion to the piano keys and generated enough air to activate the jets of air.

A recent news report about QRS Music Technologies in Buffalo, N.Y., ceasing production of paper music rolls has caused quite a stir in some circles. Apparently QRS had been producing paper music rolls for 108 years.

Player pianos moved to the digital age years ago and the newer technologies provides a more robust and accurate representation of the pianist.

The second technology to bite the dust was Polaroid film. Yes, the film that many of us grew up with making instant pictures is going away.

The film technology developed by Edwin Land (hence the Polaroid Land name) gave us instant photos wherever we were, without having to send the photos to a lab for processing.

The original photos had a peel-off part and a special coating that had to be applied to preserve the photos. This was later replaced by the SX-70 film, which only had one part that ejected from the camera.

Polaroid film was a boon to travelers who wished to leave photos with friends they met. It also became very popular at parties and other events where having an immediate photo was desirable. Professional photographers used the Polaroid film to check lighting, composition and exposure before committing their image to film.

Digital photography has changed the entire photographic landscape.

While the ability to make instant prints is still a bit of a challenge, it’s very possible to do so now with other techniques besides the Polaroid method. A digital camera, a computer and a color printer will do the same thing. In fact, a number of printers eliminate the computer component and will make prints by talking directly with a camera.

Not to let the entire instant photo business go away, Polaroid introduced a camera/printer combination that lets people make instant prints. The product was unveiled last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The other reasons for people to use Polaroid film have pretty much gone away. Every digital camera now has a screen on the back that lets the user see what the image looks like immediately after the photo is taken. E-mail now allows people to send digital photos to each other, even if they’re around the world. And if the recipient wants to have a print of the photo, he or she can make it themselves.

So, while the passing of both paper player piano rolls and Polaroid film is sad, I can’t say they will be terribly missed. It is mostly nostalgia on my part.

These items will be yet another technology that my children will ask me about when we’re watching a movie; or something I’ll be able to say: “I remember when I was a kid and cameras used to spit out a print that we used to watch develop in front of our eyes.”

I’m sure they’ll respond the way I used to with my parents: “I’m glad I didn’t grow up in the olden days.”

This was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 28 January 2009.

Photo Books That Wow

2009-01-16T08:39:00.000-08:00

When film was what people used in cameras, I was a slide guy. My wife was a print gal. I think she was right.

Taking pictures is one thing. Making them available to people to see is quite something different. The bottom line is that prints are easier to view. No technology required. Just open a book and look at the photos.

With the advent of digital photography and the ability to make extraordinary color prints at home – plus the absence of “film” that eliminates the slides versus prints dilemma – I’ve become a strong advocate of prints.

But another dilemma remains: How to present one’s favorite photos to people who want to see them?

For years, we’ve used the photo books that have typically a hundred or so plastic sleeves into which 4x6” photos slide. People can then flip through them and see our favorite photos.

I recently had an opportunity to try out two of the online photo book sites: MyPublisher.com and Blurb.com.

Before I get into each company, what they do that’s similar is offer you free downloadable software (making photo books is not yet something that’s ready for a full Web-based implementation), import and layout your books and then upload the completed file. About a week later, a beautifully printed and bound, full-color book arrives in the mail.

These books are remarkable for a number of reasons:

First, they’re beautiful. The printing quality is very high. Color reproduction is very good, especially in the skin tones.

Second, they’re professionally bound, so they look just as nice as any photo book you’d purchase at Barnes & Noble or other bookstore.

Third, they’re affordable. While the prices vary based on the number of printed pages, the size of the book, and the type of binding you request, the books I created were between $50 and $70 each. Certainly not cheap, but considering that I wanted a press run of one, this is hard to beat.

I spoke with Eileen Gittins the president of blurb.com. She described how blurb.com has positioned itself as not only a book publisher, but a method for authors and artists to create and sell their books online. Indeed, blurb.com has an entire eCommerce section to allow customers to create books and sell them online, while blurb.com fills the orders.

In speaking with Katherine Lewis, the president of MyPublisher.com, she indicated that she’s positioned her company as a service to the “family memorykeeper.” MyPublisher.com is marketed to the home audience.

Both companies offer downloadable software to layout your books. Software is available for both Windows and Macintosh. Each offers a variety of page templates and formats. Typical styles are weddings, vacations, and special events, such as graduations. Each application lets you add text to most pages for captioning the photos. While some books are intended more as books with supporting photos rather than photo books with text, there are layouts that emphasize text over photos.

Having tried both company’s software application, I can’t say I favor one over another. Both worked as advertised and were simple enough to use.

What surprised me was how much time it took to create each book. This was not a function of the software as much as it was a function of me selecting the best images, organizing them appropriately, determining which layout to put on a page, adding the needed text, and then reviewing the completed book. The results were worth it.

What I did find was that neither software application let me do basic image editing such as lighten/darken, increase/decrease contrast, red-eye removal, or rotate an image. This is typically better performed in a photo editing application such as Photoshop, but having these features in the layout application would be beneficial.

The result of my testing was that I ended up making multiple copies of one of the books and sending it to some of my family members. The books were very well received. I am considering sending out copies of the other book, too.

Perhaps the best part is that my wife, who loves pictures of our family, was thrilled with the books and we now have them proudly in our living room for guests to see.

So, what started out as an idea for a column has turned into a wonderful new way for my family to keep and share our photos with our friends. I won’t be making photo books of all of our events, but I can guarantee I’ll be doing more of these books in the future.

Originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 14 January 2009.

Scanning in the New Year

2008-12-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

The nearest grocery store to me is Shaw’s on Post Road. However, with Shaws closing its doors in January and a recent jaunt down to the East end of Westport, I found myself in the Super Stop & Shop.

As I was walking in the store, I noticed a rack of hand-held scanners by the entrance. An employee was approaching customers telling them about this new scanner that speeds up checkout times.

How it works is that each time you pull an item off the shelf, you scan the product’s barcode with a Motorola hand scanner. It looks like a typical barcode reader, but has a color screen and a few buttons on it.

Each item scanned is displayed on the screen of the hand-held unit, including its price and your total price. If you decide you don’t want the item, there’s a simple way to delete the item.

Before you start your scanning, you put a few paper bags in your shopping cart.

As you go around the store and pick up items, you scan each one and place it into one of the paper bags in your basket. I had my four-year-old son with me and he had a blast scanning everything we put in our basket.

While I did not pick up any produce that’s sold by weight or quantity, the employee told me that there are special – and simple – processes for handling these types of sales that don’t include a barcode on a package.

The scanner even offers store specials. The day I was there, I think coffee and peanut butter were shown on the screen.

I experienced three problems with the scanners:

First, my son wouldn’t let go of the scanner. He liked playing with it.

Second, at times, I almost forgot to scan items that I put in my basket. Luckily, my trip to the store was for just a few items and so it was easy to review what I had in my basket (more on this later); and

Third, the check-out procedure at the self-serve register aisle didn’t work properly. For a variety of reasons, the printed instructions at the register weren’t correct (which I was warned of by the employee who gave me the scanner when I entered the store) and ultimately we had to have one of the store employees help me check out.

I did like the technology and will find that it will help me at the supermarket, especially when there are long lines and/or I’m in a hurry with just a few items.

What challenged me was both the obvious and not-so-obvious problem.

The obvious problem is people intentionally stealing items from the store. It would be pretty easy to put 30 item in your bags, but only scan 25 items. While the store reserves the right to “audit” your shopping cart, the opportunity for stealing is pretty high. However, the self checkout aisles already include this chance for people not paying for things.

The not-so-obvious problem is ensuring that all items put in the cart are scanned. While I was in the store with my four-year-old and a short shopping list, I can imagine that someone with distractions (children, a longer shopping list, talking on one’s phone, or similar), might make a completely honest mistake and not scan one or more items while shopping.

This not-so-obvious problem is also probably due to the new nature of the process, but it exists nonetheless. I’m sure after using the system a few times, I’ll be pretty good at it. The good news is that other than the checkout process, the system worked very well.

I don’t know whether the scanners at Stop & Shop are a trial or are there for good. I liked them and think that I could get used to them. And with Shaws closing in January, I’ll have more chances to use the scanners as Stop & Shop will become my closest supermarket.

The Day the Internet Went Out

2008-12-15T12:30:00.000-08:00

The other day, the Internet service in my home went out. It had been v-e-r-y slow for a couple of days, but one day, it became essentially unusable. I couldn’t get to Web sites or email and the phone calls I was making over the Internet were essentially inaudible.

For all intents and purposes, my Internet was out.

Kind of like waking up to a backed up toilet or a school snow day, I knew my plans for the day had just changed.

My initial call to Cablevision (who provides my Internet service) indicated that there was no problem connecting to the cable modem they provide. Their technician was able to determine that 70 – 80% of the Internet packets coming to my home were being lost.

Note that information sent over the Internet, whether it be an email message, a telephone call, or anything else, is broken up in to small “packets” that are re-assembled at the destination. Some loss of packets is normal and the Internet is able to re-send lost or damaged packets so that whatever is received looks identical to what was sent.

While the Internet is pretty good at recovering lost packets, losing upwards of 80% of the packets results in major performance problems.

The Cablevision technician didn’t indicate that there were any outages in Westport or even in my neighborhood that would cause them to dispatch someone immediately. I would have to wait until they could schedule someone to come to my home to investigate. No field technician was available that day, so I’d have to wait until the next day.

I won’t bore you with all of the details of how the issue was resolved … although I will say that we never actually determined the reason or specific item causing problem. What I will say is that the field technician did re-work some of the cable splitters in my home and there was no charge for the visit.

But what did surprise me was how much we have come to depend upon the Internet.

My very first Internet account was primarily to allow me to send and receive emails and view some Web sites. At the time, emails were somewhat few and far between. If I received 3 or 4 in a day, I was quite pleased. We used the phone and faxes for important messages. This was about 1993 or 1994 … ancient history in Internet terms.

On my home Internet connection, I have a number of services that I have come to depend upon. This includes not only computers that serve my wife and children for email and Web surfing, but also two telephone lines – one being my primary office line. When these are not available, this is a major disruption to our everyday business and personal life.

Given the fact that these services were out, how would I manage, especially since the bulk of the work I do is on the phone and on my computer?

I checked to see if any of my neighbors had unsecured WiFi connections. There seemed to be some, but none that easily identifiable as a neighbor with whom I could ask to use for a couple of days and none that would even let me connect anyway. (Be advised that piggybacking on an unknown WiFi network can not only be dangerous, but might also be illegal.)

I could go work at the Westport Library or another location in Westport that has free WiFi, but that didn’t really help me get my work done for a long period of time.

Luckily, I have a wireless Internet card from Sprint that runs off the cellular phone network. It provides me with Internet access whenever I have cell phone coverage. As long as I positioned myself appropriately in my home, I was able to have email and Web service for my personal computer. I wasn’t able to print on my home printers and the computers for the rest of my family were out of luck

So this was a wake-up call for me. Not only did it tell me how dependant I’ve become on the Internet for my personal and business use, but it also proves to me that there’s becoming a need for a backup Internet service in case my primary provider is unavailable. Luckily, I had one available this time. If your personal and business life relies on the Internet, I encourage you to have a backup Internet plan, too.

As a postscript to this, the day my Internet service was restored, one of my neighbors happened to stop by and said that her and another neighbor’s Internet service had been extremely slow the past few days … starting about the same time that mine slowed down.