Future through my Kindle Fire HD

Recently I purchased an Amazon Kindle Fire HD and I really enjoy using it.  Here are my reasons why:

• It's Green - I don't have to buy books, CDs, DVD or fancy CD/DVD players.  The content in various formats can be accessed by this Information Delivery device. I currently listen to Pandora (internet radio), watch videos on NetFlix, YouTube and Amazon Prime and read books
• It's Mobile - I like it better than an iPad since it's smaller to carry around
• It's flat out cool - Nothing like watching HD video

You may wonder why am I writing about my KindleFire. Is it because of my emotional attachment to my KindleFire? Not really.  The reason I am writing about Kindle because Kindle like devices are the future of our digital world

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Before I get into why Kindle like devices are our future, I would like to say that I, Enoch Moses, became a fan of wrist watches.  The reason is because the marvel of mechanical precision and accuracy cannot be fully appreciated when you work with software, hardware or digital content.  It's cool stuff!

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As a consumer, I love the Kindle because it brings everything that I read to one common device which I am comfortable use.  I don't have to learn how to use a CD player, a DVD player or even carry a four thousand page book.

As a content provider, I can spend more time and resources in looking at the quality of my content rather than how should send my content to my consumer.  A good example is the CEO of a local newspaper who has to worry about the following:

• How can folks access my newspaper? - Home delivery, Grocery stores, Digital
• How much money do I need to spend on raw materials? - Printing machines, paper, ink, delivery of papers

The CEO of the new content company cares about:

• How can we convene our content with more impact?  - He/she doesn't have to worry about traditional constraints like print, voice or video.  The CEO can embed a video in a written piece or have written content in a video/audio format.  Nothing like listening the author narrating his new book.
• Metrics - With digital content, they can see how popular or stale is their content.  This increases agility.

From an infrastructure point of view, Amazon and Google are providing platforms where the hardware and software can reside.  The web browser will eventually be standardized. Outsourcing development will also become a new factor.  This way the business can focus on its business domain while Information Technology (IT) will be commoditized.

I also think there will be a clear break between the domain of IT, Computer Science and Information Science.  IT will be an administrative business function where the CIO will make decisions on which IT services will be used by the business.  Computer Science services and Information Science services will become niche services which will enable businesses to meeting their mission.  For example drug companies will use information science services to mine drug and clinical data; meanwhile companies like Goole and Amazon will use computer science services to further their IT services.

How does this all relate to my KindleFire?  It may not but you may be reading it on your KindleFire.  In fact it does, as I write this content, I am not thinkin about:

• Where do I host this content?
• Is this content friendly for the web, iphone, ipad or Kindle?
• Is anyone reading this content? - I use Google analytics to track this information

I am just worried about this blog entry and this is important.  This was not possible ten to twenty years ago.  Enjoy your

"Duck Sucker"

When I attended an ITIL class in 2008, I heard a term that perked my interest.  Initially I thought, can ITIL terminology really be unique and "cliche"?  Can "duck sucker" be a french word to describe complex IT service management?  I was brought back to reality like the "lego man" holding a Canadian flag.  The instructor described the term when someone throws a problem or issue over his or her cube and shouts out "Duck! Sucker." This term came to my mind after I read the Gartner paper called, " JavaScript: Past, Present and Future." According to the sharply dressed folks at Gartner, JavaScript is here to stay.  Therefore please don't complain that you cannot debug JavaScript properly or you are tired of your friendly neighborhood, Mr. Alert() function.  The reality is that with more JavaScript routines designed to detect your web browser enable this technology to stay. With web browser developers incorporate more JavaScript rendering capability and computing hardware getting faster and cheaper, it seems it is the right thing to do.  With Verizon and AT&T charging for data plans,  browser based apps will need to cache more information on the device rather than in the "cloud".  Frankly the way OMB and Google are promoting the cloud, it sounds like heaven because everyone will be happy using the cloud.   Folks get used to the word "Duck sucker" because the application developers will try to access devices through the device browser JavaScript calls and the device manufactures are going to build more powerful, smaller and expensive devices.   In the end, you and I, the general consumers, may have to duck those big bills.  There is a cost for a great user experience which is driven by the cloud.  So who is the real sucker in the mobile world? You and I are. :-(

Netflix Phenomenon and Mobility

Three weeks ago, I attended a two day workshop called the mGov Strategy.  This workshop's purpose is to provide input to OMB's mobility strategy for the US Federal Government.  Steve VanRoekel, OMB CIO, sponsored this workshop.  US civil servants from various lines of government joined the workshop. OMB split the working group into five sub-groups.  The sub-groups were:

1. Acquisition - How can US government address acquisition of mobile technologies and services? Can the US government streamline the acquisition process.
2. Security - How to safeguard government information and technologies from hackers.
3. Privacy - How to protect mobile user information from inappropriate use especially when they interface with US government mobile sites and apps.
4. Citizen apps - How to develop a mobile presence to engage US government's biggest customer US citizen.
5. Infrastructure - How can US government address the evolution of mobile technologies and associated technologies like cloud computing, social computing and others.

As the member of the security sub-group, we discussed several policy and technical approaches.  The thing that caught my eye and basically sums up any future technical advancement is the ability to do use any application from anywhere and anytime.  I call this the "Netflix phenomenon"

Even though Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO, won't win the CEO of the year award, I still give him credit in taking the movie watching experience from a cinema theater to any possible device which is accredited by Netflix.  I admit that Google introduced this feature with YouTube however Netflix took it to a new level.  I can now start a movie via  my laptop, pause it and then resume it on my iPad.  I like this DirecTV commerical which captures what I am talking about.


To develop this type of an IT service, enterprises need to invest in the following technologies and architectures like:

• Cloud computing - IT departments need to centralize their business applications and act as cloud brokers to outsource some of their applications to third party clouds like Amazon EC2, Google Cloud, Rackspace and others.  I believe unless OMB makes significant investments in IT infrastructure, agencies will have to act as cloud brokers. It's a cost effective mechanism.
• Smarter Pipes - Where is Mario when you need him?  With all of the data and information streaming back and forth between clouds, user devices, government needs to influence how IT networks should evolve.  Since mobile users are constantly starving for the fastest network, vendors have to realize that simply scaling up the networks is not a sustainable model.  Vendors and research institutes need to look at how data should traverse the network and optimize it.  A good example is that vendors need to develop information caching mechanisms at the network level.  
• Smarter security - One of the best phrases used by the mobile users in the government space is, "brick". Users can call and email on a brick but nothing else.  Security personnel should realize that clamping everything defeats the purpose.  IT risk management should be a key in developing a smarter security posture. Single sign on is key as well. No one wants to sign on with multiple usernames and passwords to do their work.
• Usability - One of the best parts of using Netflix is how intuitive the user interface is.  Ease of use is a key phrase to describe Netflix's user interface.  We need to identify and prioritize what functionality is needed or desired on a mobile app.
• Flexibility - Use sound architecture principles like loose coupling, simple interfaces and architectures.  Simpler is better.  
• Standards based architecture -  Eventhough there is an over abundance of  standards especially XML (frankly I am sick of how folks are misusing it), we still need to emphasize it and design appropriately.  Having a 50MB XML payload in SOA enabled information exchange is NOT smart architecture.  I am not going to expound on the 50MB XML example since it is aggravating.

Even though Reed Hastings didn't make alot friends with Qwikster or jacking up the monthly Netflix fees,  he did build a pretty cool service called Netflix streaming.  As I write this blog, my youngest son is watching Power Rangers in Space via the WII and my oldest two are watching a Dreamworks movie via the PS3.  My third one is having fun the old fashioned way. She is attending a birthday party. Thanks Reed and now bring down the monthly fees.

2 days @Gartner Symposium

This is my second year at the Gartner Symposium IT/XPo in Orlando, Florida.  After the first two days of the symposium, I believe the mantra of the symposium is the three new pillars of technology which are the glued together by information.  The pillars are:

1. Cloud Computing
2. Mobile Computing
3. Social Computing

At first you think this is just bunch of hype.  What can a bunch of research analysts know about cloud, mobile, or anything else in IT.  Are these Gartner analysts creating trends from pure ignorance?   The answer is,"No"  Companies like Amazon, Google and Apple are creating technologies which are extremely disruptive and are causing problems in a positive way.  Today Gartner mentioned Google and Apple as the innovators.  I believe Amazon should be in that group. Amazon built the EC2  before IBM can spell cloud.
Amazon's model tends rely on developing services which are off-shoots out of its book business.  The Amazon cloud was a game changer and now Amazon's Silk which is a cloud browser will change the way things are done on the mobile space.

I attended couple of mobile sessions today and coule of social media sessions today.  Did I learn anything from these sessions?  The answer is Yes.  Social media has a defined lifespan.  Mobile computing is going to take over and the concept of cloud brokers was introduced.

I personally believe that cloud will reduce costs in the long run and increase throughput. I also believe that mobile will allow users to be more immersed in the internet and social computing is not a IT phenomenon but rather a social one.

The thing that caught my ear was the case study they did about the financial organization and how they built visual tools.  They updated their processes to be more "agile" so that the customer is engaged more in the development process.  I am therefore waiting for Agile computing.  This is the next big thing.  Once these technologies are stablize and drive costs down, businesses will be looking for more agility from their IT since the users will be changing their needs based on their social network.