Big Data Conferences

Big data is brand new buzz word in Data arena, however its popularity and relevancy can be gauzed by the number of start-ups working on big data and their market evaluation plus the activities like blogs, seminars and conferences. When I looked, I found at least 5 conferences coming up in next couple of months.

1. O'Reilly Strata Conference in Santa Clara, Feb 1 -3 2011
2. Apache Hadoop India Summit 2011 February 16, 2011 from 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
3. Big Data Summit 2010 Bay Area in San Francisco Feb 18
4. Structure Big Data Conference in New York City, March 23, 2011
5. Oreilly Velocity in Santa Clara CA June 14-16 2011 (Not a Big data conference, but NoSQL is one of the themes of this conference)

Let me know what you think... 

Happy India Republic Day !!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Day_(India)

RFID in payment services - NFC based innovation

One of my colleagues and friend talked a couple of weeks ago about Wells Fargo implementing a payment system with Visa that uses some technology called NFC or Near Field Communication. After some research I found that, NFC is not a new technology and 3 US banks are working with Visa since 2007 on implementing this for payment services using mobile phone. We all know that paying through mobile phone is not something new either, in Finland (home of Nokia) almost 80% of consumer payment transaction happens using mobile phone.
What is NFC and how does it work?

NFC is a short-range, standards-based wireless connectivity based on RFID technology that uses magnetic field induction to enable communication between electronic devices in close proximity. It provides a seamless medium for the identification protocols that validate secure data transfer. This enables users to perform
intuitive, safe, contactless transactions, access digital content and connect electronic devices simply by touching or bringing devices into close proximity. NFC operates in the standard unlicensed 13.56MHz frequency band over a distance of up to around 20 centimetres.
What are the potential uses for NFC?

• Smart poster - think of a poster promoting a product or services or an event or a show, you take your NFC device(such as your cell phone embedded with a NFC chip) close to the poster (also embedded with the the NFC tag) and you immediately get the url of the event to know more or book ticket. 
• Products having NFC stickers will enable instant product information on cell phone when phone is taken close to the product on self. Others innovative uses are pasting NFC stickers on photos to enable seniors to make call by just touching the sticker on the photo.
• Electronic wallet - Can an NFC enabled card replace all credit, debit, store cards? Definitely....this is what banks are working with Visa on. Imagine, there is a spot on dinner table in a restaurant which has NFC sticker. You just take your cell phone or your NFC wallet close to the point and you paid your bill. This is likely to be rolled out for smaller payments such as vending machine payment.

My ideas for NFC:

• taking students attendance in a class
• tracking movement of people in restricted area
• enable establishing short range communication between devices
• traffic safety?

Get Inspired - tell your stories

With publishing companies racing to embrace digital platforms to save its identity, Blurb is empowering ordinary people design and produce their own professional quality books. Whether its photo book from your unforgettable memories or your creative mind telling something others can read and benefit, Blurb provides a digital platform to design, create, promote and sell your own books for as little as $2.95. Download and install their free Booksmart software on your PC and get started. You can share your book on Facebook, blogs or your own website. Now this is called Innovation for everyone. Hats off to you Blurb !!

IBM's Watson won the practice match against 2 Jeopardy champions - final in February

Don't forget to tune your local channel to ABC on Feb 14, 15 and 16 when IBM's super computer is going to play final game against former Jeopardy champions. In a practice game on Thursday Jan 13, "Watson" defeated Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, the final score was $4,400 for Watson, $3,400 for Jennings and $1,200 for Rutter, close enough to make the official showdown anyone's — or any computer's game. "Watson" will compete on the first-ever man vs. machine competition, which will air Feb. 14, 15 and 16, with two matches being played over three consecutive days. Jennings and Rutter, the show's two most successful contestants, will face off against Watson for a grand prize of $1 million, second place earning of $300,000 and third place of $200,000. Rutter and Jennings will donate 50% of their winnings to charity, and IBM will donate all of its winnings to charity. Here is the video of the practice game:

IBM - the most inventive company 18 years in a row

IBM shattered US patents record again.... 18th year in a row.This time breaking the record of achieving more than 5000 patents in one single year. Here is the top 10 list:

1	IBM	5,896
2	Samsung	4,551
3	Microsoft	3,094
4	Canon	2,552
5	Panasonic	2,482
6	Toshiba	2,246
7	Sony	2,150
8	Intel	1,653
9	LG Electronics	1,490
10	HP	1,480

Also don't forget to watch this video on what inspires IBM inventors...

Who is hiring software engineers in bay area?

• Successfactors a maker of business process execution software for companies of all sizes is hiring Java Engineers.
• Intapp, a maker of business software targeted for Law Firms is hiring Software Engineer with Linux system level programming experience.
• Guzik which provides test solutions to disk drive industry is hiring Database engineers with programming experience.
• Rentpayment service provider for property management companies is hiring Software QA engineer.
• Goalmine a social web company is hiring experienced Java programmers.
• Medvantage a healthcare software provider is hiring QA engineers
• UCSF School of Medicine is hiring Programmer Analyst with SQL, Cognos experience.
• CheckPoint, a San Jose based software company is hiring Software Engineers with C++ experience.
• Clearwellsystems an eDiscovery platform provider for Legal firms is also hiring Software engineers.
• Anvato who provides monitoring and alert services for Video copyright is hiring JavaScript UI developer.
• eBay is hiring Software Development Manager and QA Engineer too.
• Meez, a gaming software company is hiring J2EE software engineer.
• Appredeem which provides advertiser platform is hiring Android software developer.

Why UPS trucks never turn left

Enterprise software hot again?

Facebook, twitter and online software platform such as Groupon have changed the definition of hot software. These are the software that were built for users and not for enterprises. In fact all big traditional software companies that build and create software to run big business for enterprise are considered dull and un attractive.
Not anymore... There is a new wave of enterprise software companies that are hot again.
Consider Cloudera which is helping big businesses manage their huge information, or zuora which is inventing new way of building cloud based subscription model.
Palantir is solving the big problems for government (helping to prevent terrorism and predicting infectious diseases) and  financial companies (discover trends, relationships and anomalies)
These enterprise software companies are using innovative ideas and a clever mix of Free market model to penetrate into enterprise software market. Social web is also getting into enterprises, Yammer said to be doubling its revenue every quarter. These startup companies have unprecedented opportunity to disrupt traditional enterprise companies. Colleges and universities have to teach students the characteristics of the new breed of so called enterprise software companies.

You are a new QA manager, what next?

I came across this article in ST & QA magazine. The author has done a great job of dividing the major roles of a QA manager in terms of his interactions with different groups within the organization and reminding the core work items by posing questions. A must read for QA professionals. You can read the article online at:
http://tiny.cc/k5x6z
You will have to sign up for a complementary subscription.

Back to the future (India Inc)

This new year was spent mostly in jet lag, as I just got back from a little short of month long trip to India. The gloomy sky, rainy weather, lost dish TV reception gave me a chance to spend  good time with loved ones and few books and magazines that I carried with me. India is shining in terms of GDP growth, world class airports, 6 lane highways, high rise buildings in every small or big town. There are many things however still the same. No accountability and ownership of work, specially among Government workers. Even nationalized bank employee don't fear the competition, may be they will some day when they realize that they get paid by people's deposits in the banks. Corruption is at its peak as federal and state money is abundant to spend on infrastructure and other social welfare programs. For some reason, I was more focused on looking what has not changed rather than seeing what has changed.
I am very optimistic that things will improve back there considerably in this new year. There are plenty of reasons for that. Leaders have recently seen the evidence social engineering and infrastructure development are key to winning elections. The very successful global Indian business leaders are returning to their home country and changing the corporate culture.  I looked at the following business people profile from Business Today magazine who returned their home to be part of the growth story that is being written currently:

• Malay Mukherjee left ArcelorMittal in UK to join Essar Steel India as CEO
• Aisha de Sequeira an Yale University graduate returned closer to home as MD and head of Investment banking, Morgan Stanley. She was with same company at New York headquarter.
• Pawan Goenka an IIT Kanpur grad and PhD from Cornell, now considered father of "scorpio" India's Mahindra's very successful SUV, returned to his home country after a successful career at General Motor in USA
• Kirthiga Reddy became the first employee of facebook India when it started operation in July 2010

There are many inspiring stories of successful Indians like these who fought hard and proved themselves in US corporate world and now going back to the "future" that they think.

Happy New Year 2011 to all