Pinboard (guardiantech)

The trouble with IBM >> Businessweek

guardiantech — 2014-06-05T01:21:02+00:00

When the CIA turned down a cheaper offer from IBM to build a $600m cloud service in favour of Amazon, IBM protested and took the matter to court. Bad move:

A federal judge agreed, ruling in October that with the “overall inferiority of its proposal,” IBM “lacked any chance of winning” the contract. The corporate cliché of the 1970s and ’80s, that no one ever got fired for buying IBM, had never seemed less true. IBM withdrew its challenge. No single deal encapsulates a 103-year-old company with a market capitalization of $185bn. But the CIA butt kicking is a microcosm of larger problems IBM is having as it struggles to adapt to the cloud era, in which clients large and small rent technology cheaply over the Internet instead of buying costly fixed arrays. Under [chief executive Virginia] Rometty’s leadership, revenue has declined for eight consecutive quarters, a period when most of corporate America has flourished. In January, after a year in which IBM was the only company in the Dow Jones industrial average whose shares lost value, Rometty and her top executives turned down their annual bonuses, worth in her case as much as $8 million. (Rometty, 56, who goes by Ginni, declined to be interviewed for this article.)

Long. Worthwhile. Unsettling.

Online shopping digital analytics benchmark >> IBM

guardiantech — 2013-12-26T20:35:09+00:00

Mobile traffic was up 28.3% year-on-year in the US, and mobile sales were 29% of all purchases - up 40% on 2012:

• Smartphones browse, tablets buy: Smartphones drove 28.5% of all online traffic compared to tablets at 18.1%, making it the browsing device of choice. When it comes to making the sale, tablets drove 19.4% of all online sales, more than twice that of smartphones, which accounted for 9.3%. Tablet users also averaged $95.61 per order, versus smartphone users, who averaged $85.11 per order.
• iOS vs. Android: As a percentage of total online sales, iOS was more than five times higher than Android, driving 23% vs. 4.6% for Android. On average, iOS users spent $93.94 per order, nearly twice that of Android users, who spent $48.10 per order. iOS also led as a component of overall traffic with 32.6% vs. 14.8% for Android.
• The Social Influence - Facebook vs. Pinterest: Shoppers referred from Facebook averaged $72.01 per order, versus Pinterest referrals, which drove $86.83 per order. However, Facebook referrals converted sales at nearly four times the rate of Pinterest referrals, perhaps indicating stronger confidence in network recommendations.

At this rate mobile will be the majority next year.

Why a (former) Apple hater thinks all BYOD devices should be iOS >> IBM Endpoint Management blog

guardiantech — 2013-10-13T20:10:36+00:00

So, why does someone, who obviously has no love for Apple, think they are the best platform for BYOD? Because Apple has embraced the enterprise. Plain and simple. They have provided great APIs for MDM vendors to leverage so we can help enable an incredibly secure platform for mobile computing. In my opinion, the best platform. Their data segregation between apps and the managed app capability are great for BYOD management. I know Blackberry fanboys will argue that, but bottom line, who wants to use a Blackberry? Their BB10 devices are cool, but there aren’t any apps. If Candy Crush and Fruit Ninja aren’t there, what good are they? And since those apps aren’t there, no one will buy them. And since no one buys them, no one develops for the platform. More on that in another blog.
And just wait till iOS 7 comes out. It gets even better!
In iOS 7, Apple adds some great new features to make a very secure platform even more secure.

In ways which are listed. (Although he doesn't use an iPhone...)

IBM's Watson for smartphones? It could be. >> Android Authority

guardiantech — 2013-05-22T20:03:08+00:00

For a select few companies, Watson will begin serving as their customer service representative. IBM may also make Watson available via apps on your smartphone, as well as web chats or email queries.
For many of us, the term “customer service” relates to hold times and an agent on the other end who seems befuddled by that charge on your credit card. Watson may be able to handle that, but the aim and scope seem different. It looks like Watson will concentrate more on the financial matters for now, but could also serve to assist representatives get faster access to more poignant information. Many of Watson’s guinea pigs are banks or other financial institutions, and seem intent on using Watson’s knowledge to better analyze and serve their customers’ needs.

Touch control is pervasive (and even spreading "back" to PCs); voice is next.

IBM creates first cheap, commercially viable, electronic-photonic integrated chip >> ExtremeTech

guardiantech — 2012-12-10T22:00:46+00:00

After more than a decade of research, and a proof of concept in 2010, IBM Research has finally cracked silicon nanophotonics (or CMOS-integrated nanophotonics, CINP, to give its full name). IBM has proven that it can produce these chips on a commercial process, and they could be on the market within a couple of years. This is primarily big news for supercomputing and the cloud, where the limited bandwidth between servers is a major bottleneck.

With All Due Respect: The Patent System's Not Broken >> Wired Opinion | Wired.com

guardiantech — 2012-11-11T15:07:26+00:00

Why would a company spend billions of dollars to build a microprocessor-manufacturing plant employing thousands of skilled workers in the US, if it could only protect its technology by obtaining patents in other countries? Why would a venture capital firm fund a social-networking service provider if the company could not obtain patents on its innovative software backbone, preventing others from easily copying it?

Not mentioned, but maybe worth recalling: Google has an exclusive licence to the PageRank patent from Stanford University. (The exclusivity was meant to expire in 2011 but a call to Stanford shows it hasn't..) The writer is a patent attorney at IBM. Which means many people will dismiss what he's saying out of hand.

Here's what 4K of RAM used to look like...

guardiantech — 2012-01-23T23:02:47+00:00

On Twitter: "4K of IBM memory found in my grandpa's pole barn, captured in a 692K photo".

WellPoint hires IBM's 'Jeopardy!'-Playing computer system Watson >> WSJ.com

guardiantech — 2011-09-14T05:37:57+00:00

"Watson, the "Jeopardy!"-playing computer system, is getting a job.
"WellPoint Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. are set to announce a deal on Monday for the health insurer to use the Watson technology, the first time the high-profile project will result in a commercial application."

Jeopardy, if you didn't know, is the US quiz show in which players are given parts of an answer and have to offer the question (eg "To marry Elizabeth, Prince Philip had to renounce claims to this southern European country's crown." The 'answer': Greece.)

So to start from a set of symptoms and work back to a diagnosis is perfect.

Wonder how long it will be before it appears in an episode of House.

IBM's centenary: The test of time >> The Economist

guardiantech — 2011-06-12T19:49:15+00:00

"IBM’s secret is that it is built around an idea that transcends any particular product or technology. Its strategy is to package technology for use by businesses. At first this meant making punch-card tabulators, but IBM moved on to magnetic-tape systems, mainframes, PCs, and most recently services and consulting. Building a company around an idea, rather than a specific technology, makes it easier to adapt when industry “platform shifts” occur (see article).
"[But...] An elegant organising idea is no use if a company cannot come up with good products or services, or if it has clueless bosses. But on the basis of this simple formula—that a company should focus on an idea, rather than a technology—which of today’s young tech giants look best placed to live to 100?"

Interesting question.