Author: Vince Kimball

News.Com: It's the people, stupid. Too many products, and many start-ups, fail because they don't focus on a simple reality: Humans will need to use and like the product or service. Too often, technologies and products are created because they can be, not because they should be. [Tomalak's Realm]

What do you need for a successful meeting? A Weblog is what you need for a successful “no travel” meeting? Robert Scoble: “Video is not what most of you need. Keep in mind that four years ago I was pushing video very hard for Winnov, which makes video capture cards and other devices that help… Continue reading What do you need for a successful meeting?
A Weblog is what you need for a successful “no travel” meeting?

Robert Scoble: “Video is not what most of you need. Keep in mind that four years ago I was pushing video very hard for Winnov, which makes video capture cards and other devices that help you communicate on the Internet with video. I also started DevX's NetMeeting Zone. I've talked with people in more than 40 countries and studied videoconferencing very hard. It just isn't what most companies need.

You'll find that most of your “no travel” meeting needs will be met by a content management system (er, the technology used to create this Weblog

FTC – Workshop Planned To Discuss Strategies for Providing Effective Financial Privacy Notices. Public Workshop Co-sponsored by Eight Federal Agencies An interagency-sponsored public workshop on Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act privacy notices will be held on Tuesday, December 4, 2001, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Room 432,… Continue reading FTC

News.com reports: “Gartner remains concerned that viruses and worms will continue to attack IIS until Microsoft has released a completely rewritten release of [IIS] that is thoroughly and publicly tested….Gartner believes that this rewriting will probably not occur before the end of 2002.” Gartner seems to suffer the common but moronic falacy that new or… Continue reading reports

Medical Records Made Easy. So many hospitals, so many forms. An IBM computer team works to develop a universal medical record that combines personal data while protecting patients' privacy. Mark K. Anderson reports from the Future of Health Technology Summit in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [Wired News]

John Robb: “In 1932, JFC Fuller, a lone British military strategist wrote an innovative book on a new strategy of warfare that fueled the development of Blitzkrieg (without BlitzKrieg Germany's war machine would have stalled in France ala WWI).  Heinz Guderian read Fuller's book and got the funding to implement its lessons into an advanced armored unit he commanded (much of… Continue reading John Robb: “In 1932, JFC Fuller, a lone British military strategist wrote an innovative book on a new strategy of warfare that fueled the development of Blitzkrieg (without BlitzKrieg Germany's war machine would have stalled in France ala WWI).  Heinz Guderian read Fuller's book and got the funding to implement its lessons into an advanced armored unit he commanded (much of his training was done with cardboard tanks).  During the invasion of France, despite pressure by his military superiors (who were not schooled in the new way of warfare) to halt his advance, Guderian drove his tank unit across the low countries to the sea.  This rapid action trapped the British expeditionary force in Dunkirk (which almost resulted in their utter anhilation) and set the stage for the rapid occupation of France. 

“Luckily for us, no military strategist has written the book that provides the basis for the new type of asymetrical warfare we now find ourselves in. Although I have to admit, I almost did write that book a decade ago but felt that it would be immoral to do so since it was certainly to provide more help to an attacker than a defender (us).  Bin Laden is certainly implementing some of the concepts I planned to write about, but he clearly lacks the theoretical basis for effective follow up.  This gives me hope that we can develop effective counter-measures in time to prevent real destruction.  I am still glad I didn't write the book.” [John Robb's Radio Weblog

Wired.  Unmanned Aircraft to be used in Afghanistan.  These are great recon weapons.  Unfortunately, the US is way behind what can be done with UAVs in a combat role.  A low cost, UAV for ground troops could be a way to significantly enhance the capabilities of our ground forces.  UAVs equiped with night vision, a… Continue reading Wired

developerWorks: How to create flexible sites quickly using standards like CSS and XHTML: “What do you do when you need to have a Web site done “yesterday”? This article answers that question, showing you how to create sites quickly and flexibly using Web standards like cascading style sheets (CSS), structural HTML, and server-side includes. It… Continue reading How to create flexible sites quickly using standards like CSS and XHTML

Innovation in Classification. In this post, two threads are at work. The first addresses an issue often raised in user-centered design, which is that its discipline and process don't encourage innovation… [xBlog: Visual thinking linking | XPLANE]

Interactive Week: Expert: Net Is Vulnerable. Part of the problem is that the Internet was basically built by people who liked each other, he said. “Now there are people out there who are adverse to us, who don't like us. And they have access to the Internet's technology, too. So there is a vulnerability, and… Continue reading Expert: Net Is Vulnerable