I've hosted Google Ads on this website for over 10 years, but I've decided to remove them. I realized that having the ads, and wanting to maximize the amount of revenue they could generate, was keeping me from writing as much I'd like. With the ads, I felt that I had to be careful not […]

The Weather Company, an IBM Business announced today that it is enhancing its global flight operations solution WSI Fusion, with live flight tracking data from FlightAware. WSI Fusion provides early insight into changing flight, airport and airspace conditions, enabling aviation providers to carefully plan and track flights, optimize operations and reduce the impacts of disruptive events. With the addition of FlightAware’s data, including its private network of over 12,000 Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) ground stations in over 160 countries, WSI Fusion customers will have access to enhanced flight following capabilities worldwide.

IBM announced today that it has been recognized as the winner in the Business Analytics category and the Enterprise Network Storage sub-category in CRN’s 2017 Annual Report Card (ARC) awards program. The Annual Report Card summarizes results from a comprehensive survey that details solution provider satisfaction across product innovation, support and partnership for the hardware, services and software vendors they team up with. The vendors with the highest ratings are named to the prestigious Annual Report Card list of winners and celebrated as best-in-class by their partners. The results also provide the IT vendor community with valuable feedback—directly from their solution providers—that can be used to refine product offerings, enhance support offerings and improve communication with partners.

Each year, weather-related power outages cost the U.S. economy as much as $33 billion a year. Additionally, one severe weather event has the potential to impact the daily lives and routines of millions of people. As 2017 marks the fifth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, The Weather Company, an IBM Business (NYSE: IBM) and Zpryme are releasing the results of a survey that found that U.S. utility companies still feel underprepared for weather-related outages and that their reactive approach to outage prediction leads to lost time and resources.

IBM Security today announced the launch of two new security testing practice areas focused on automotive security and the Internet of Things (IoT). The new services will be delivered via an elite team of IBM X-Force Red researchers focused on testing backend processes, apps and physical hardware used to control access and management of smart systems.

IBM Security, Packet Clearing House (PCH) and The Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) today launched a free service designed to give consumers and businesses added privacy and security protection as they access the internet. The new Quad9 Domain Name System (DNS) service helps protect users from accessing millions of malicious internet sites known to steal personal information, infect users with ransomware and malware, or conduct fraudulent activity.

NOT. HAPPY. AUSTRALIA! ScoMo offers some plain speakin’ to a country in chaos.  Plus, the media embrace social distancing. And a CNN interview turns into family therapy. 

Kerry Stokes skips hotel quarantine for the comforts of home while Seven West Media skips covering the story.

The best way I know to cook beans, and the one I always return to. A version of the much-loved Tuscan bean recipe - fagioli al fiasco. Traditionally, beans were baked overnight in a Chianti bottle placed near the embers of that night's fire. While not exactly authentic (no fire here), I do a riff on the general idea, using a low-temperature oven and enamel-lined pot.

Continue reading How to Cook Beans that are Tender, Creamy, and Nearly Perfect on 101 Cookbooks

IBM and Stone Ridge Technology today announced a performance milestone in reservoir simulation designed to help improve efficiency and lower the cost of production. Working with NVIDIA, the companies shattered previous published results using one-tenth the power and 1/100th of the space. The news demonstrates the ability of NVIDIA GPUs to simulate one billion cell models in a fraction of the published time, while delivering 10x the performance and efficiency than legacy CPU codes.

IBM today announced a significant new release of its PowerAI deep learning software distribution on Power Systems that attacks the major challenges facing data scientists and developers by simplifying the development experience with tools and data preparation while also dramatically reducing the time required for AI system training from weeks to hours.

IBM and Nutanix today announced a multi-year initiative to bring new workloads to hyperconverged deployments.

At the International Supercomputing Conference in Frankfurt, The Weather Company, an IBM Business, today announced a plan to help improve weather prediction globally via a new collaboration with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), a federally funded research and development center for the atmosphere and Earth’s geospace systems.

IBM today announced that CipherHealth, a SaaS healthcare provider, has deployed IBM Power Systems™ infrastructure to run its technology platform that helps healthcare providers reduce re-admissions and improve the patient experience by providing effective patient engagement from pre-hospitalization through to post-discharge. The move to the new infrastructure has halved CipherHealth’s monthly infrastructure costs, and improved its data processing times by nearly 90 percent.

IBM and SAP SE have teamed up to provide a co-innovated solution for the retail and consumer packaged goods industries to help both increase profitability and improve the consumer experience.

IBM scientists have developed a new approach to simulate molecules on a quantum computer that may one day help revolutionize chemistry and materials science. The scientists successfully used a seven-qubit quantum processor to address the molecular structure problem for beryllium hydride (BeH2) – the largest molecule simulated on a quantum computer to date. The results demonstrate a path of exploration for near-term quantum systems to enhance our understanding of complex chemical reactions that could lead to practical applications.

IBM and the University of California San Diego have announced a multi-year project to enhance quality of life and independence for aging populations through the new Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living Center (AIHL), located on the campus of UC San Diego. The groundbreaking center will bring together the technology, artificial intelligence and life sciences knowledge of IBM and UC San Diego to promote critical research and applications in two thematic areas: Healthy Aging and the Human Microbiome.

IBM today announced the first clients to tap into its IBM Q™ early-access commercial quantum computing systems to explore practical applications important to business and science. They include: JPMorgan Chase, Daimler AG, Samsung, JSR Corporation, Barclays, Hitachi Metals, Honda, Nagase, Keio University, Oak Ridge National Lab, Oxford University and University of Melbourne.

IBM has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Solid-State Arrays (SSA) for the fourth year in a row.

IBM Research scientists have achieved a new world record in tape storage – their fifth since 2006. The new record of 201 Gb/in2 (gigabits per square inch) in areal density was achieved on a prototype sputtered magnetic tape developed by Sony Storage Media Solutions. The scientists presented the achievement today at the 28th Magnetic Recording Conference (TMRC 2017) here.

IBM today announced two significant milestones in making the on-premises IBM Cloud Object Storage System much more accessible for customers with new compliance-enabled vaults and concentrated dispersal mode capabilities.

The Weather Company, an IBM Business, and PRISA Noticias, one of the world’s leading Spanish-language media groups and owner of EL PAÍS newspaper, announced today a collaboration to combine the most accurate forecasts with one of the Spanish-speaking world’s largest media groups. The Weather Company will provide in-depth weather data and forecasts, as well as tailored content across PRISA properties. In turn, PRISA Noticias will provide locally relevant articles, photos and video content within the Spanish versions of The Weather Channel app and website (weather.com). The collaboration will also enable local marketers to access advanced data-driven advertising solutions from IBM Watson Advertising (formerly The Weather Company’s ad sales business) across both companies’ properties.

Pets at Home, the UK’s leading pet specialist retailer and IBM today announced the launch of Sales Assist, an IBM MobileFirst for iOS app for iPad which will be used across 440 stores nationwide to make it easier and simpler for customers to purchase the products they need.

IBM today announced that it will help deliver a tailored fan experience through the IBM Cloud at Atlanta’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, scheduled to open later this month.

IBM today unveiled a number of major additions to its Flex System portfolio. The offerings combine the latest server technology with new virtualization, networking and management tools, allowing clients to consolidate their existing IT infrastructures and reduce operating costs. This will help clients use smaller data center environments to quickly deploy, manage and secure increasingly larger clouds.

Today IBM and Eurobank announced the first cloud-based digital platform for online international commercial trading. Using IBM's industry-leading Digital Experience software, with advanced cloud capabilities and social offerings, Eurobank is uniting exporters and importers from around the globe to enhance international trade operations and increase transactions.

IBM today announced that Vissensa, a UK-based managed service provider (MSP), has taken delivery of the IBM Enterprise Cloud System, which will help the company offer new and improved cloud services to its customers.

IBM today announced plans to acquire Promontory Financial Group, a global market-leading risk management and regulatory compliance consulting firm. Upon close, the capabilities of Promontory combined with IBM's deep industry expertise and Watson’s cognitive capabilities will directly address the massive operational effort and manual cost of escalating regulation and risk management requirements.

Earlier this week I predicted the demise of conventional IT caused by the wide adoption of SD-WAN and SASE, accelerated by the emergency demands of everyone working from home. Now that Congress has passed a $2.2 trillion COVID-19 bail-out, let’s throw-in the implications of that legislation to see what effect it is all likely to have on what used to be IT. The short version is to expect an even bigger bloodbath as IT employees at all levels are let go forever. Please understand that some version of this bloodbath was going to happen anyway. What matters right now is how we respond to it. While my previous column was generally about turning lower-level IT nerds into Uber drivers, this one goes a little further […]






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IBM today announced the opening of IBM Studio Groningen, where IBM design, digital and industry experts will work with clients to help them engage with their customers using big data, mobile, cloud and social innovations.

IBM and Box today announced a global partnership that will combine the best-in-class technologies and resources of both companies to transform work in the cloud. Together, the companies plan to integrate their existing products and services and develop new, innovative solutions targeted across industries and professions ranging from medical teams working on complex cases to individuals negotiating consumer loans by mobile phone to engineers and researchers identifying patterns in patents, reports and academic journals.

IBM and Hootsuite announced plans to integrate several of their respective cloud and social technologies as well as expertise, to provide Hootsuite clients a fast and reliable social experience.

Millions of consumers depend on The Weather Channel and weather.com for their daily forecasts, breaking weather news, and the latest in health and travel. And, on August 21, they will be able to experience a solar eclipse like never before. The Weather Channel digital properties and Twitter have teamed up for a live stream of this once-in-a lifetime celestial event, which will allow consumers to chase the total solar eclipse in real time as it moves from coast-to-coast.

IBM and MIT today announced that IBM plans to make a 10-year, $240 million investment to create the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab in partnership with MIT. The lab will carry out fundamental artificial intelligence (AI) research and seek to propel scientific breakthroughs that unlock the potential of AI. The collaboration aims to advance AI hardware, software and algorithms related to deep learning and other areas, increase AI’s impact on industries, such as health care and cybersecurity, and explore the economic and ethical implications of AI on society. IBM’s $240 million investment in the lab will support research by IBM and MIT scientists.

IBM Watson Health and Tiatros Inc, a digital health company, today announced that the Tiatros-enabled post-traumatic stress disorder programs achieved up to 73% completion rate for veterans who begin the PTSD sessions. The Tiatros Post Traumatic Growth for Veterans is a Tiatros psychotherapy program designed as a secure social network to support veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The program connects veterans with their peers online, in a platform that is designed to reduce barriers to access and deliver evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy that is personalized to each individual, with help from Watson APIs.

MAP Health Management and IBM Watson Health today announced a partnership that aims to address the pervasive problem of relapse among Americans suffering from Substance Use Disorder, a chronic disease. MAP will integrate Watson cognitive technologies into the MAP Recovery Network Platform to enhance the platform’s existing capabilities around patient risk models. In doing so, it is anticipated that behavioral health and substance abuse treatment providers that use the MAP platform will be better able to predict and prevent incidence of relapse nationwide.

The Weather Company, an IBM Business and Rogers Media announced today an agreement to provide weather information and content customized specifically for the Canadian market. With this agreement, The Weather Company will provide in-depth weather data and forecasts, as well as curated content, across Rogers Media properties. In turn, Rogers Media will provide locally relevant articles, photos and video content across the Canadian versions of The Weather Channel app and website (weather.com) to provide residents with the most pertinent information possible. The Weather Company and Rogers Media will also align to enhance advertising across both companies’ properties, with Rogers leveraging its ad sales capabilities to monetize The Weather Channel properties in Canada.

IBM announced today that Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) has integrated IBM Watson Analytics to help create new services and programs based on data-driven insights to improve students’ academic achievement and development.

IBM today announced that Joanne Wright, Vice President, IBM Watson Supply Chain and Jeanette Barlow, Vice President of Offering Management and Strategy for IBM Watson Supply Chain will be participating in the “Industry Value Chain Exchange Series,” part of the Gartner Supply Chain Management Executive Conference. The conference takes place from May 23-25 in Phoenix, Arizona.

IBM today announced that Joanne Wright, Vice President Supply Chain has been selected to speak at the upcoming Supply Chain Summit Conference, which takes place in Chicago on June 14-16.

IBM today announced that Joanne Wright, Vice President Supply Chain has been selected to speak at the upcoming Supply Chain Leaders in Action Business Forum, which takes place in Naples, Florida on June 5-7.

IBM today announced that Mammoth Resorts, the leading four-season mountain resort operator in California, is using Watson Customer Engagement solutions on the IBM Cloud to create customized offers that are helping to drive record numbers of visitors to the resort every year.

IBM today announced new offerings to its Watson Data Platform, including data cataloging and data refining, which is designed to make it easier for developers and data scientists to analyze and prepare enterprise data for AI applications, regardless of its structure or where it resides. By improving data visibility and helping to better enforce data security policies, users can now connect and share data across public and private cloud environments.

IBM today announced that Vancouver-based company Fusion Genomics selected IBM’s cloud capabilities to help advance Fusion’s ability to detect pandemics before they happen. Fusion Genomics has developed disruptive DNA and RNA technology that it believes can positively identify infectious diseases and enhance the surveillance of emerging pathogens like MERS, SARS, avian flu, and swine flu.

When the No Parking signs aren't doing the job, I add some of my own.

I went out to interview the players hunting in the park at night

Last year I had an incredible night with the Rocky Challenge table in Sacramento. I offered people an opportunity to try something weird (drinking raw eggs) and it was a big hit! Since then, I've set up the Compliment Exchange table a few times, but I always had my mind on creating some kind of physical or psychological challenge. In August, I came up with a plan: Mystery Shots.

In my ice-making adventures, I stumbled across these Ikea bowls which have a nearly spherical shape. They are great for making ice balls!

Desperate to see a show? Bring a sign and come alone.

Photos and Descriptions of where to find Electrical Outlets in the Magic Kingdom