Current CITE-ings from the popular and trade computing press: future technologies, innovation, creativity and more

Citation

Trapasso, L. (2013), "Current CITE-ings from the popular and trade computing press: future technologies, innovation, creativity and more", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 30 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-09-2013-0052

Current CITE-ings from the popular and trade computing press: future technologies, innovation, creativity and more

Article Type: Columns From: Library Hi Tech News, Volume 30, Issue 8

Keywords: Technology, Mobile devices, Computer software, Computer hardware, Computing platforms

This month’s column focuses on examples of thinking out of the box and moving away from attitudes such as “we have always done it this way ”. Just as companies have tried new ways of enhancing creativity and innovation, so can libraries. New devices such as Google Glasses and other upcoming technologies such as smart watches will challenge libraries to think up new ways to integrate these appliances in new and innovative ways to enhance the library experiences of our users.

Future technologies, creativity and innovation

In one article, the author questioned many employees in the hi-tech market what were their dreams, he wondered what employees hoped to accomplish in their work. The employees relayed their hopes and dreams and what they hoped could be invented. The collective desire was how these creations would fit into the grand scheme of things. Employers feel that avant garde work spaces help workers with creativity and innovation. This article is filled with pictures of these new kinds of office spaces, and quotes of employees dreams (Kelly, 2013).

Meditation and mindfulness are the latest rage in Silicon Valley. It is now the way to get ahead of the competition. Kenneth Folk says that this is training the brain. An interest in Eastern faiths is getting hardwired in the tech world. The article includes testimonials from top and mid-level managers as to the success of these programs. Besides Folk (2013) some leading thinkers are Soren Gordhamer, Vincent and Emily Horn, Jack Kornfield, Chade-Meng Tan, and Evan Williams. Maybe this could be a focus for overworked and stressed-out librarians!

An indigenous artist realized that native American tapestries looked like QR codes. He visited a tribe in south America and learned their folklore and customs and had them create tapestries that included quick response codes that explained their culture (Sandford, 2013).

Google Glass Explorer includes flash storage, a microphone, bluetooth, a radio, and a camera. It also has a bone-conductive transducer that sends audio to your inner ear. The cost when on the market will be $200-$600. Filtered out of the Google Glass will be ads, the selling of data, and charging fees for apps. There will be a touchpad on the side to turn pages of information on the glass. It will have limited voice recognition (Staff, 2013a). It will be interesting if library applications for Google Glass are forthcoming but I have a feeling that some libraries are already thinking about potential applications.

According to one author, the wave of the future is tiny intelligent things all around us, coordinating our activities. For example, there will be coffee pots that talk to alarms. This wave is coming soon when mundane tasks around the house are controlled wirelessly, performing tasks on demand (maybe the same for libraries?) They communicate through simple wireless protocols. Some people have dubbed it the internet of everything, the internet of things, or the industrial internet (Wasik, 2013).

Computer hardware and software

If you are dealing with a crises with Windows, hardware, software, networking, internet, or mobile devices, the author explains how to take quick, corrective action and discusses ending spontaneous system shutdowns, prevention of firewall nagging, clearing out dirty PC cases, rehabilitating broken monitors, fixing malfunctioning keyboards, curtailing extra long boot times, as some examples included in the article. He then discusses Windows 8 tricks. Lastly, he discusses security tips such as removing malware from a Windows PC, locking down your Facebook account, fixing a broken password, and how to repair a corrupt Windows installation. Finally, he discusses business corrections (Staff, 2013a, b, c).

There are new tricks for getting things done on Apple devices such as managing email, working with monthly bills, recording podcasts, and shooting photographs. For filing bills, the author recommends Hazel, which is a utility that performs actions on files based on rules the user has defined. In producing podcasts, if constant noise is the matter, a filter can be used to exclude it. In photoshopping, simply clear the memory of card files once you have archived your pictures. In e-mail, just set up filters (Staff, 2013a, b, c).

Chacos (2013) describes how Windows 8 trumps the non-Windows competition. Windows 8 has a vast software library. It has backward compatibility. It has better syncing. It has a native web browser. It has better browser security. It has widespread peripheral compatibility. It has multiple monitor support. It has system search. It multitasks. It resets the clutter on your computer.

Mobile devices

What are the fastest mobile devices? Cardin (2013) rates the fastest services. The 3G winner was T-Mobile. The 3G loser was Sprint. The 4G winner was AT&T. The 4G loser was Sprint. In this article, Cardin charts the results of wireless speeds and performance by city. There is also some commentary on AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint.)

One recent article discusses how to make the Apple iPad a better business tool. It goes over working the Dropbox, how to key a change, file formats, the best iPad bluetooth keyboards, the best presentation toolkits, and finally, and the best iPad cases (Multiple Authors, 2013).

Computing platforms

There will soon be a migration form Infrastructure as a service to platform as a service. InformationWeek conducted a questionnaire to “platform as a service” providers. These are still the early days, but theoretically “platform as a service” promises that they can take care of everything you bring to them. This will free up IT time so employees can focus on writing code to solve business problems. There are three “platform as a service” models. Comprehensive models supply a wide range of languages in use today. There are specific stack platforms for companies that want to take advantage of these platforms without rewriting an application. Proprietary platforms promise a completely managed service in exchange for embracing a proprietary scripting language. The author gives seven factors to consider. They are programming language and frameworks, databases, availability, security, services, customer care, and price (Emison, 2013).

One article describes how a college system spread over many geographic locations needed to upgrade its IT systems. They could not afford to do it on one year’s budget, so they phased the cost over several years. They had to prioritize what equipment got replaced first, without disrupting classes and back office work. This college recommends standardizing on a single supplier for core network gear that can simplify management and ease support. In the future, the college realizes it will need to increase access points (Tynan, 2013).

Big data provides access to actionable information. Currently we use it to predict consumer behavior. UpSell Manager looks at sales correlations between different items and uses to recommend other products to similar shoppers. Big data is used to look for inefficiencies in the organization. The next step is to make big data affordable to companies of all sizes. The Chartio platform is trying to do this (Garrity, 2013).

Lois Trapasso
(ltmanuscript@hotmail.com) is based at Independent Librarian, Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, USA.

References

Cardin, R. (2013), “America’s fastest wireless networks”, PCWorld, August, p. 61
Chacos, B. (2013), “How Windows 8 trumps the non-Windows competition”, PCWorld, July, p. 78
Emison-Masters, J. (2013), “Change platform: here’s why we give PaaS a vote of confidence”, InformationWeek, April 22, p. 26
Folk, K. (2013), “Enlightenment”, Wired Magazine, July, p. 120
Garrity, M. (2013), “Everyday uses of big data”, WebSite Magazine, August, p. 10
Kelly, K. (2013), “Dreams”, Wired Magazine, May, p. 48
Multiple Authors (2013), “IPad: the new work machine”, MacWorld, August, p. 34
Sandford-Ryan, M. (2013), “Talking code”, July-August, p. 22, Smithsonian
Staff (2013a), “5 Things you must know about Google Glass”, PCWorld, July, p. 96
Staff (2013b), “Fix it fast”, PCWorld, August, p. 49
Staff (2013c), “Getting things done”, MacWorld, June, p. 32
Tynan, D. (2013), “Phased approach”, EdTech Magazine, Spring, p. 26
Wasik, B. (2013), “Welcome to the programmable world”, Wired Magazine, June, p. 140