Data Acquisition

For technology-oriented companies particularly — and many others, as well — the Internet has become as important as the telephone for communicating with customers, gathering information, etc. But a blog posting by an editor at Network World relates how a seemingly minor configuration error when updating domain name system (DNS) records dropped the entire nation of Sweden off the Internet. (The blog posting has more details about what went wrong, and is well worth reading.) The problem was immediately spotted and corrected, but the incident shows that this communications medium that can't necessarily be taken for granted. Are organizations putting too much reliance on this communications channel, or is it a matter of unavoidable growing pains?

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Amazon's Kindle proves that e-books are having a major impact on the book market. E-books have advantages in ease of distribution, saving weight and space, and ability to hyperlink — all of which seem particularly advantageous for technical manuals. But an extensive New York Times online article delves into the deeper question of whether the electronic format (via Kindle, an iPhone, a laptop, or a PDF file) is better than the printed book in terms of reading comprehension, attention, and concentration. With a thought-provoking title "Does the Brain Like E-Books?" the article brings in the essays of five experts in linguistics, psychology, brain research, and computer sciences. After considering their arguments, how do you feel about e-books vs printed books?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Data Acquisition, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Data Acquisition today.

In today's recessionary economy, many are worried about job security, but are you worried that some computer or intelligent machine might someday take away your job? Or perhaps completely displace humans? A recent article in the New York Times notes that a group of researchers who met at the Asilomar conference center in California discussed just such possibilities. There's wide debate about whether the rapid technological advances represent promise or a threat, with noted inventor Raymond Kurzweil being one prominent personality lining up on the side of the former, while William Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, takes the other side.

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Data Acquisition, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Data Acquisition today.

Cloud computing — sometimes also called utility computing — offers the prospect of servers, computing power, and data storage being made available to customers across the Internet. Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud is perhaps the most well-known example of this technology at work. The idea: companies don't necessarily need computers, per se; they need what computers can do — computing. So, rather than owning computing hardware, simply rent what's needed — CPU cycles — as needed. Using Web servers provisioned 'in the cloud' allows a Web site to quickly boost performance, should they suddenly be discovered by Oprah, for example. Would cloud computing be a boon or a bust for your work?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Data Acquisition, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Data Acquisition today.

The black box from Air France Flight 447 may never be found. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal says that pitot tubes might have iced up. As a result, the automatic controls might have been operating with incorrect airspeed data. Some also suspect that computer failures in the highly-automated Airbus A330 might have played a role. Many aircraft today use 'fly-by-wire' technology. Cockpit controls are connected to a computer or other control system that activates those surfaces in response to pilot input. Does fly-by-wire over-insulate pilots from their aircraft (in emergency situations, at least)? Is there such a thing as too much automation for today's aircraft? Or is it a matter of pilot training?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Data Acquisition, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Data Acquisition today.