intelligent

Will tomorrow's world still need designers?

Johanna Blakley, Deputy Director at the USC Norman Lear Center, will moderate one of the most provocative panel discussions at SXSW Interactive next weekend: " Will Tomorrow's World Still Need Designers?" Panelists include Alonzo Canada (Jump Associates), David Merkoski (frog design), and Helen Walters (BusinessWeek). In a blog post, Blakley has articulated some points that challenge the raison d'etre of a whole profession and will likely spark a heated debate:

"At Davos this year, four luminaries in the world of design were asked to predict what the future of design will be. The themes that arose … Read more

Agency explores feasibility of virtual worlds as terrorist havens

Over at Wired today, the eagle-eyed Ryan Singel has a story about a new U.S. government initiative intended to root out terrorists working and playing in virtual worlds.

As Singel writes, the so-called Data Mining Report (click here for PDF) from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence includes information about "Reynard," a "seedling effort to study the emerging phenomenon of social (particularly terrorist) dynamics in virtual worlds and large-scale online games and their implications for the Intelligence Community."

The Data Mining Report continues, suggesting, "The cultural and behavioral norms of virtual worlds … Read more

Q&A with Brian Gentile, JasperSoft's new CEO: Consolidation, interoperability, and $1 billion

I recently caught up with Brian Gentile, JasperSoft's new CEO, to get his take on the rampant industry consolidation in the Business Intelligence world, where JasperSoft competes. I also asked him about his favorite open-source software (shouldn't have, as you'll see :-) and whether open-source interoperability is a "must have" for his customers.

With more than 2.5 million downloads worldwide and more than 7,000 commercial customers in 96 countries, JasperSoft is on a roll. But with Pentaho getting $12 million more in funding, there's no easy sailing for JasperSoft. I wanted to see how Brian was planning to navigate the difficult dynamics of his industry.

Q: You joined JasperSoft just a couple of months ago. What have you been working on?

BG: Well, I've been on the JasperSoft board for more than two years, so I came to the table in many ways ready to go. I think JasperSoft's opportunity is in its ability to offer choice and flexibility in a market where customers are facing the realities of hegemony: fewer choices, higher costs and little innovation. It's true that choice and flexibility are inherent features of open-source software, but in the BI market, where consolidation is at an all-time high, it's more relevant than ever.… Read more

Benchmark deepens its open-source portfolio with $12 million Pentaho investment

If there was an open question as to which venture capital firm is the king of open source, Benchmark just settled that question with its most recent investment in Pentaho, a leading open-source Business Intelligence company. Not surprisingly, Peter Fenton is behind the deal.

Pentaho competes with other open-source BI companies like JasperSoft and Actuate (and I suppose Greenplum, too, in a way), but the more interesting competition is the big proprietary vendors (Business Objects, Cognos, etc.) and the net new opportunities bringing BI to the masses.

It will be intriguing to see how this investment pans out for Benchmark. … Read more

An unexpected convergence device: the lantern

Technology may be making everyday objects smarter all the time, but one of the least likely examples has come in form of something that practically defines low tech: the camping lantern.

The "Intelligent Lantern" would come in handy for emergencies as well as outdoors recreation because it includes a digital clock, built-in speakers, and an AM/FM radio with local NOAA weatherband, as well as a hookup for an MP3 player. And unlike other combo devices we've seen, it doesn't abandon its primary mission: Its lights can be seen as far as a mile away and … Read more

DigitalGlobe's new satellite view is twice as sharp

A global leader in commercial satellite imagery and geospatial information has just doubled up.

DigitalGlobe has released photos captured by its WorldView-1 remote sensing satellite launched in September that have twice the resolution of previous images, allowing viewers to see things on the ground as small as 20 inches in diameter. The black and white shots captured with equipment developed by ITT's Space Systems Division are part of a program sponsored by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to provide imagery for military, intelligence, foreign policy, homeland security, and civil use.

They include shots of Houston, Texas, Yokohama, Japan, and Addis … Read more

IBM buys Cognos for $4.9 billion as industry consolidation hits overdrive

Who do you want to buy from today? Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, or SAP? Those are pretty much the only choices left, now that IBM has announced its acquisition of Cognos for $4.9 billion.

The deal has long been expected, given that IBM had to play catch-up with Oracle and SAP, both of whom have gone on the business intelligence buying binge in the past year. The Cognos acquisition should work financially for IBM by giving it economies of scale in the sales process.

But what does it give customers? One less choice. That is, unless they opt for open … Read more

IBM to acquire Cognos for $5 billion

IBM on Monday announced plans to buy business intelligence software company Cognos in a $5 billion all-cash transaction.

The acquisition, which was rumored for several months, continues IBM's strategy of acquiring companies to fill out its software portfolio and boost earnings growth.

Cognos, a public company based in Ottawa, Canada, provides tools for building business reports and business performance management dashboards.

The software will complement IBM's existing set of products for data warehousing and information management.

Cognos' existing products will "match nicely with (IBM's) middleware and software products," Steve Mills, senior vice president and group … Read more

Intelligent Design vs Science, analog vs digital, CD vs LP--and the winner is?

Natural sound as we hear it in "real life" is pure analog, but recorded sound is, with few exceptions, chopped up into digital bits. So other than live music concerts pretty much every note you hear is digital. Whether you're listening to an iPod, the internet, TV, CDs, DVDs, or the radio, they're all digital in one way or another. We have as a species evolved over the eons to hear analog sound, and it's only over the past 25 years that digital has taken over. And it hasn't been very pretty. The only … Read more