Technometria with Phil Windley
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In the 17th century, William Ames wrote a book called
Technometria. Technometry meant literally "the measure of a skill or
art." As Ames used it, he meant the study of the theory of the
interrelation of the arts and sciences. (See Why
Technometria for more detail.)
This is the Technometria podcast. I'm Phil Windley and I'm usually joined
by Scott Lemon and Ben Galbraith, good friends and
great technologists in their own right. Matt Asay has been a co-host in the past. We may talk him into coming back someday.
Technometria is our attempt to make sense of the technology that
surrounds us through exploration, analysis, and, hopefully,
reason. In these podcasts you'll find discussions of Web 2.0,
programming and software development, open source, identity, new
media, enterprise computing, and many other topics.
If you enjoy these podcasts, let us know by giving them a rating or sending us a note. You might also
enjoy Phil Windley's
Technometria blog.
Author and tech consultant Shel Israel discusses the issues of publishing in an electronic format. He reviews how he went through the process of preparing his most recent book, Stellar Presentations, for the Amazon Kindle and other devices. In addition, to describing the overall ePublishing concept, he also discusses the various steps necessary to help make an electronic book successful.
One of the great benefits of the ability to use mobile devices to accomplish many tasks is the ability to take control of your home. Author and developer Mike Riley discusses his book Programming Your Home. He reviews how one can interact with lighting, remotely monitor home security, and many other actions. He reviews the technical aspects of setting up both the sensors and mobile devices to take advantage of the technology. He also reviews specific examples and reviews how he used the Android in particular for his work.
As more household appliances can be controlled remotely, major companies are developing new ways for consumers to use their products. Jonathan Thompson discusses how General Electric uses the Nucleus Energy Manager to monitor and control power usage and cost. In addition to describing the Smart Energy Profile standard, he reviews how appliance and electricity usage is monitored, as well as how privacy issues in particular are controlled and considered in the manager.
Open Sen.se is a platform for experimenting with the interconnectivity of worldwide devices. Vahé Kassardjian, the company's co-founder gives an overview of the project, from its initial development to specific examples of its application. Describing the process as "going from the mental all the way to the metal", he shows how Open Sen.se is meant to do more than just track data and Vahé reviews how it can be implemented.
Peter Michalek is leading the the oX/OpenLynx effort, a scalable and comprehensive conceptual solution to support the needs of this next wave of computing. As described by Toby Considine, "plug'ins are used for each new control protocol (BACnet, ModBus, DNP, …) to be exposed in the oX server. This model distinguishes between the low level low voltage protocol used for each system and the information harvesting that one wishes to do in the wide world." Peter discusses the project and its current status and use.
According to the Supermechanical website, "Twine is a wireless module tightly integrated with a cloud-based service. The module has WiFi, on-board temperature and vibration sensors, and an expansion connector for other sensors." Developer John Kestner describes the device and its development. He reviews how it works, what decisions were made in its design, and how It allows you to connect things to the Internet. He also discusses the community that is working to make the product better.
As stated on the MQTT website, MQ Telemetry Transport "is a machine-to-machine (M2M)/"Internet of Things" connectivity protocol." Meant to be used remotely particularly when bandwidth is at a premium, it can be used in both mobile and dial-up situations. Developed as part of his work at IBM, Andy Piper discusses the project, including its concepts and background. He also reviews examples of its use and reviews future development plans.
In this time of continued concern about the future of energy, technology specialists are looking for ways to better control how power is used in commercial buildings where people sometimes work twenty-four hours a day. Toby Considine, an expert on smart energy and Jon Udell discuss current activities to create an open source model that allows for better communications among the various technologies to develop a building automation system.
As personal computers have become an everyday part of our lives, consumers and businesses have to deal with the issues and problems of technology. Robert Stephens created the Geek Squad as a way to help people correct computer problems quickly and easily. When Best Buy bought his company, he became CTO of the retail giant. He talks about his background, what led him to create Geek Squad, and how he developed a business model that depended on a flat fee structure, rather than hourly rates.
Originally known as the Apache Group, the Apache Software Foundation is a leading supporter of open source software development. First established in 1999, the non-profit organization provides support to a number of open source projects. Software developer Nick Burch discusses the work of the ASF and its upcoming ApacheCon North America conference, scheduled for November 7-11, 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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