Overheard in the tech blogosphere

Overheard - Regional Internet Registry

Margaret Rouse — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:41:37 +0000

The Number Resource Organization (NRO) announced that less than 10% of the remaining IPv4 addresses are unallocated, and that puts IPv4 on the endangered species list. What’s NRO? The group that officially represents the five Regional Internet Registries that oversee Internet number resources.

Kate Gerwig, Move away from IPv4…This is not a test

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is Regional Internet Registry (RIR).

Overheard - mobile browser

Margaret Rouse — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:17:44 +0000

If Google’s vice president of engineering is right, it means that many developers might be wasting time trying to port their application to various mobile platforms out there. Build for the mobile browser; it might not look like a very good idea now, but it could pay off in the future.

Stan Schroeder, Google: Browser is the Platform of the Future, Even on Mobiles

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is mobile browser.

Overheard - Wireless Distribution System

Margaret Rouse — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:53:12 +0000

WDS uses standard 802.11 wireless to forward traffic between access points, as an alternative to Ethernet or another wired distribution network. In effect, WDS turns a pair of APs into a pair of wireless bridges or repeaters…WDS is based on the 802.11 standard, but is not fully specified by that standard, so WDS links often work only between same-vendor APs (or APs using the same chipset).

Lisa Phifer, What’s the expected range on a pair of Belkin 54G routers in wireless bridge mode?

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is Wireless Distribution System.

Overheard - XaaS

Margaret Rouse — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:13:49 +0000

There will be many flavors of cloud computing with many subsets. Already we have a plethora of “X as a service” (XaaS) offerings, including swapping the X with software, infrastructure, platform, data, integration, etc. I expect to see clouds as a service (CaaS) any day now.

Dana Gardner The distinction between grid and cloud computing

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is XaaS.

Overheard - Wireless medical telemetry services

Margaret Rouse — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:09:39 +0000

Hospital environments are especially vexing for wireless devices coping with interference [EMI] created by anything from the reflective signal characteristics of a building to the multitude of electronic devices crowding a patient’s room or treatment area.

R. Srinivasan, answering the question “What are the requirements for effectively deploying and managing wireless medical devices?”

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is wireless medical telemetry services.

Overheard - IFRS

Margaret Rouse — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:30:10 +0000

While U.S. GAAP could conceivably become the de facto global standard, it seems more likely that IFRS will hold that distinction. More countries and markets use IFRS, it has been developed with an international view from the start, and it has the structures in place to obtain global input and acceptance.

Scott Taub IFRS & U.S. GAAP: Where Do We Stand?

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the day is International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Overheard - Pigs and chickens

Margaret Rouse — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:11:25 +0000

People who are not committed to the project and are not accountable for deliverables at the meeting do not get to talk. They are excess overhead for the meeting. They might be called eavesdroppers if you don’t like chickens. Whatever we call them it should have a negative connotation because they tend to sap productivity.

Jeff Sutherland, SCRUM: Pigs and Chickens

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is pigs and chickens.

Overheard - burn down chart

Margaret Rouse — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:07:02 +0000

As a pilot, I like to think of a burn down chart as being like the glide path of an airplane on final approach…If you are stabilized on the glide path you will hit the runway at the designated touchdown point. If you are too high, you will not make it to the runway…If you are too low, watch out for the trees!

Peter Stevens, Towards a better burn down chart

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is burn down chart.

Overheard - clean desk policy

Margaret Rouse — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:32:52 +0000

I was accompanied by a Senior Director, who attempting to find a machine with which to demo a new product, chanced upon a staff member’s desk where some documents had been left in full view. He picked them up and said he would lock them in his own office, so that the staffer wasn’t fined. Apparently, company policy at the time was to enforce the clean desk policy through an automatic payroll deduction. :-O

David J. Anderson, Clean Desk Policies

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is clean desk policy.

Overheard - Data center swamp cooler

Margaret Rouse — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:36:13 +0000

Evaporative cooling technology has done away with refrigerants. At Yahoo’s latest center in upstate New York, the entire building functions as an air handler, taking advantage of the winds off the lake to eliminate chiller plants in the data center. The average cost to cool for Yahoo centers is now 1%.

Linda Tucci, Disaster recovery is dead; long live continuous business operations

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is swamp cooler. It’s the slang name for a cooler that uses evaporative cooling technology.