Pondering BPM applications and summer reading lists

Is this the official holiday weekend or was that last weekend? Mid-week holidays are so confusing. One thing we do know for sure is that summer is now in full swing. To celebrate, we’ve got a compendium of fun things to do outdoors. They include reading, daydreaming (about BPM applications!) and, um, setting up your data center. It’s true, TotalCIO readers — thanks to AOL engineers, a barbeque grill is no longer the coolest thing you can toss on a concrete slab out back. To the roundup:

• We seem to remember lugging a single CPU about this size into our college dorm room. Is AOL about to literally change the IT landscape with its micro data center?

• Just a couple of weeks after word of the Surface surfaced as Microsoft’s long-anticipated response to the iPad, a familiar foe may be emerging to challenge Apple’s smartphone supremacy.

• In case you run into him on the beach and need to make conversation, check out Bill Gates’ summer reading list. It could happen, and if it does, you’ll thank us.

• A summer rerun on a blog? Really? Actually, wait,  shhh,  this is a good one – it’s the one with the data center maintenance checklist!

• You know you’ve been pondering BPM applications far too much if you can answer this question as readily as these folks.

• Finally, innovation takes many, many forms – even this one.