On Mondays I offer comments on some   of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week.  Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.

Today’s comments were generated after I read the fore mentioned CNN story.  Great article that I recommend to you.  Give them a read below.

CNN.com – Inventor of cell phone: We knew someday everybody would have one

By Tas Anjarwalla

“Cooper and his team at Motorola, the communications company, created maybe the only thing that runs the lives of business professionals and teenagers alike — the cell phone.

It was the size of a brick and wasn’t commercially sold for another decade. But as Cooper demonstrated on a New York sidewalk, it worked.”

What I loved about this article was that it represented the exact best that an outfit like CNN can deliver.  It showed journalistic ethics, special access granted by being a big name, and rigorous fact checking and research without opinion or slant. To me, it shows exactly what big media can and should  deliver that bloggers never can, will, or should.  I wish that CNN and the rest of mainstream media would stick to this type of story and get out of the business of trying to beat bloggers to scoops, or drive a political agenda, even involving tech reporting, by spinning news to create positions.  Bravo to CNN and  Tas Anjarwalla for showing us how it can and should be done.  Great story.

OK, that is what I think of this topic. What do you think about this topic?  Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for July 12, 2010  by Scott Coughlin.

Image Credit: Fukuoka Prefectural University

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On Mondays I offer comments on some   of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week.  Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.

Today’s comments were generated after I read not one, but two stories from The Economist about the threat, fear, and realities of CyberWar.  Great articles, both, that I recommend to you.  Give them a read below.

The Economist – War in the fifth domain: Are the mouse and keyboard the new weapons of conflict?

“After land, sea, air and space, warfare has entered the fifth domain: cyberspace. President Barack Obama has declared America’s digital infrastructure to be a “strategic national asset” and appointed Howard Schmidt, the former head of security at Microsoft, as his cyber-security tsar. In May the Pentagon set up its new Cyber Command (Cybercom) headed by General Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency (NSA). His mandate is to conduct “full-spectrum” operations—to defend American military networks and attack other countries’ systems. Precisely how, and by what rules, is secret.”

The Economist – Cyberwar: It is time for countries to start talking about arms control on the internet

“As with nuclear bombs, the existence of cyber-weapons does not in itself mean they are about to be used. Moreover, an attacker cannot be sure what effect an assault will have on another country, making their deployment highly risky. That is a drawback for sophisticated military machines, but not necessarily for terrorists or the armies of rogue states. And it leaves the dangers of online crime and espionage. “

Seriously good writing about seriously complicated topics containing serious information, commentary, and consideration.  What is not to love here.  If you are an Information Professional then you need to read these stories.  Enjoy them.  I suspect that if The Economist is now writing about this weekly, the topic will be showing up everywhere!

OK, that is what I think of this topic. What do you think about this topic?  Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for July 5, 2010  by Scott Coughlin.

Image Credit: Help Net Security at net-security.org

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On Mondays I offer comments on some   of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week.  Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.

Today’s comments were generated after I read a CNN story.  It is all about “race” between Lady Gaga and President Obama to get to 10 million Facebook followers.  I recommend it to you.  Give it a read below.

CNN.com – Obama, Lady Gaga compete for Facebook fan record

“Lady Gaga and President Obama don’t often travel in the same circles, but they’re the top competitors in a popularity contest that could have one of them setting a record by this weekend.

Facebook publicists told CNN on Thursday that the pop star and the president are neck-and-neck in the race to become the first living person with more than 10 million fans on the social networking site.”

I am just going to go ahead and say it.  WHO CARES!  I cannot believe that so many people go through life trying to relive their High School Class President election.  That is exactly what this manic obsession with Twitter and Facebook followers represents.  Can you image if Ghandi, Albert Einstein, or Mother Teresa had spent even a millisecond worrying about what others thought of them – let alone who had more people willing to “follow”” them on these social media services?

OK, that is what I think of this topic. What do you think about this topic?  Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for June 28, 2010  by Scott Coughlin.

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It is available in print and kindle editions from major book sources, including Amazon.com. I appreciated it so much that I also added it to The Information Technology Thought of the Day Webstore, permanently.

I will try to get a full review up in the next couple of weeks, as I finish it.  I can already tell though that it will be a modern day classic for the niche that it is targeted at as well as statisticians and current event geeks.

The opening chapter alone is worth the price of admission and really demonstrates well how much the world of warfare has changed in the past 20 years due to the Internet and Information Technology.  I especially appreciated how the author makes the case that Cyber War is real whether you think that it is or not.    I also valued the parallels that were drawn between the dawn of cyber war and the coming of naval aviation and nuclear weapons.  Considering that the author is a leading expert on Nuclear War policy, I figure that he probably knows what he is talking about.

Image Credit: Tesco Books

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On Mondays I offer comments on some   of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week.  Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.

Today’s comments were generated after I read a CNN story.  It is all about the rise of Bit.ly as the greatest URL shortener of them all.   I recommend it to you.  Give it a read below.

CNN.com – Clicking small links on bit.ly keeps getting bigger

“The rise of Twitter and instant messaging has been good to bit.ly — the URL-shortening service that has become a go-to tool for users across the web.

On Thursday, while announcing a host of new partners for its premium pay service, bit.ly trotted out a big number for a service based on little links.

Bit.ly is nearing 5 billion clicks per month, according to a post on the company’s official blog.”

There are many many hyperlinks that items that I have posted online that are still good links after 15 years.  I know that they are good because I made them, I own them, and I pay to keep them live.  The problem with URL shortener is that they are simply spreadsheets and look-up tables linking real hyperlinks to a shortened version that is in no way related to the original.  They are great for ease of use, saving space on Twitter, and replacing overly cumbersome URLs with easy to remember ones.  What they are not good at is being enduring, reliable, or permanent.  If the URL shortener service goes away, so go the links.  That is why, as a web author, I love to hate them. 

I am resigned that they are a necessary evil for the time being, but I still am uneasy with how fragile the link to so much of what I have created really is on today’s web.

What do you think about this topic?  Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for June 7, 2010  by Scott Coughlin.

Image Credit: VEED.in – Tech News

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